Mindscapes
by Waywatcher
Summary: An encounter with Mad Mod in Blacksoak City leaves five Titans unconscious, and the only way Raven can think of to help them is to venture into their minds in order to rectify any damage that may have been caused. (Up for adoption)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Raven chants, her voice gives away a bit of nervousness. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

The empath sits in the center of the tower's main room. Her unconscious friends littered around her. A bad fight with Mad Mod, who had somehow shown up in Blacksoak, left the five other Titans completely unwakable. No amount of noise could rouse them and Raven had been forced to teleport team five other Titans back to the tower.

"Azar, why couldn't he have just used his usual hypnosis?" She asks, worried. "I hate plunging into other people's minds... So much could go wrong."

" _Hey, it can't be worse than your mind, am I right?_ " Brave chuckles.

"Not now." Raven mutters, gathering dark energy around her in a slight whirlwind. "I have minds to visit... And hopefully not destroy."

" _You're one of the most powerful sorceresses on the planet, owe ye a little faith._ " Knowledge sighs.

The empath smiles a bit upon hearing this. If her emoticlone of logic and reason thinks she'll be fine, then she shouldn't worry too much.

"Right." She says, her tone becoming serious. "Time to activate the council spell."

The council spell. An ancient Azarathian ritual used simply for silent communication. It is also very useful for explaining that which cannot be described, instead showing everyone joined a mental image. Even entire memories can be shown through this link. Though, in this case, Raven is just using it as an easy passage into her friends' minds.

The whirlwind increases in force, picking up light objects that Raven had neglected to put away. An eerie orb of purple light appears in the center of the six heroes, it hovers silently for a moment before shooting out beams of light at each Titan.

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Shadow all twitch in their forced unconsciousness. Raven can feel them fighting the unknown intrusion.

" _Be calm..._ " Raven says mentally, gently sending the message to their linked minds. " _Let me in..._ "

Her vision fades, and eventually goes black as she steps deeper into their collective unconscious.

###

"Ello there my duckies!" The crazed designer cries, standing atop a Tim Hortons and gesturing with his arms. "Welcome to New England!"

"What have you done to my city?!" Shadow shouts, taking a threatening step towards the villain. "Do they even have Tim Hortons in England?"

"Nothin much." Mad Mod says. "Just returned it to how it ought to be!"

"Yeah, and the cake wasn't really a lie." Beast Boy scoffs, crouching at the cloaked boy's side.

"Seriously? Not the best time for that reference." Cyborg chuckles, powering up his cannon. "I doubt he gets it anyways."

"I was not aware that earthly deserts could speak, much less lie." Starfire sighs, confused. She summons a starbolt while continuing. "I confess, I never stopped to listen."

"Not what he meant Star." Robin mutters, pulling out a birdarang. "It's from a game. I'll explain more later."

"Oye! Are you blokes even listnen to me?!" Mad Mod protests. "I went through a lot of work to restore this city! The least ya could do is pay attention! In my day children respected their elders!"

"Yeah, well we're not exactly children anymore." Shadow growls. "Last I checked, we're teenagers."

"Same thing!" Mod snaps. "In my day-"

"People rode about on dinosaurs and had the IQ of sand, we get it." Beast Boy interrupts. "Can we fight now? I want to finish mega monkeys five before the day is over."

A vein pulses in the fashion designer's head. "You brats want a fight? Fine. Face the might of the British army!"

A massive amount of toy soldiers welding old fashioned rifles storm out of the doughnut store. They all aim them at the six heroes, an evil glint in their dark ey-

"Dude! They have mint chocolate! I haven't been able to find a place that sells those in forever!" The changeling shouts, completely ruining the moment as he mashs his face against the glass window.

"Focus Beast Boy." Raven hisses, snagging her teammate by the back of his collar.

"Just attack already!" Mod roars, pointing at finger at the shapeshifter.

The Titans tense, expecting shots to fly from the old-fashioned weapons. Instead, the guns fire out strange waves of spiraling energy. The mesh of black and white completely knocks out their visibility.

Raven immediately pulls her hood lower on her face, obscuring her vision of the spirals. Her teammates aren't so quick, and they all fall to the floor within moments.

"Mod, what did you do?" The empath growls while using her telepathic powers to locate the villain.

"Just a new mind trick my duckie." Mod cackles, closing his eyes and thumping his chest proudly. "Now I can reprogram your friends with just a little manipulation."

"Unless I have something to say about it." Raven replies, appearing behind the outlandish designer. "Actually, I have only three words to say: Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Mad Mod immediately falls to the floor, unconscious.

And just like that, the battle is over. In less than a minutes five Titans are down for the count simply because of a few spirals. Mod certainly can be a handful.

"Now the problem is waking them up." The half-demon sighs, rubbing her temples. "This will be fun."

It turns out, Raven was completely incapable of waking the five heroes. Mod had really got them good this time, and, sadly, it was not his normal hypnosis.

" _Well._ " Rage growls. " _This isn't good. How about we wake up Mod, tear him limb from limb, and see if he'll help then?_ "

"We can't." Raven mutters. "That spell put him out for a good six hours."

" _Then what the hell do we do?_ "

"I'm not exactly sure."

* * *

 **Chapter 1 / Intro complete. I just noticed how often I use commas. Does that get annoying at all?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

Raven's vision returns, and she finds herself in a place that looks surprisingly like Nevermore. She is standing on a familiar floating rock. Six paths branch off it, one leading to a spiked arch, one leading to a cave entrance, another to an ornate door, another to something that looks like an elevator, one that leads into a jungle, and lastly, one that leads to a metallic, white doorway a large orange M on it.

The half-demon recognizes the path with the spiked arch as a entrance to her mind, therefore the other paths must lead to the minds of her friends.

"Which one first..." The empath muses.

"Enie, meanie, miney, moe-" Says a voice from behind her. Raven turns her head to see her pink-cloaked emoticlone jabbing her finger at each path in turn.

"Happy?"

"Catch a tiger by the toe-"

"Happy!"

"If he hollers let him go-"

"HAPPY!"

"Actually, the end is "enie, meanie, miney, moe." But your way works too." The emoticlone giggles.

"What are you doing here?" Raven asks, demanding an answer.

"I want to help!" She chirps.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's bad enough that I'm messing around in their heads. They don't need two of me there." The empath explains.

"Aww..." Happy pouts. "But I really want to help!"

"You can't." Raven sighs. "Believe me, if there was a way you could help, I would tell you, but this is a delicate operation, so only one of us is best."

Happy looks downtrodden. "You're positive I can't help?"

"Hmmm... I guess there is one thing, but it isn't very interesting." Raven admits reluctantly.

"What is it? What is it?" The pink-cloaked girl gasps.

"I don't exactly know what to do to help everyone. So I need you to stay out here as a kind of emergency escape."

"Huh?"

"If something goes wrong, I need you to lead me out of whoever's mind."

"Oh." Happy ponders this for a second before nodding. "Okay, I'll just stay here then. Whatever will help."

Raven is honestly surprised, she would have expected the emoticlone to leave, claiming it would be too boring. "Uh, thanks." She says, turning around to study the paths once more. "Now... Which one first?"

"The jungle!" Happy cries. "Because it's probably Beast Boy!"

"I guess it's just as viable as every other path. So why not?" The half-demon sighs. "Time to enter the land of bugs and beasts."

Raven struts forward towards the path with the jungle, and disappears into the foliage almost immediately, a large leaf blocking the last visible part of her.

###

She would be honest, she was expecting more... Anything. Considering how emotional Beast Boy was Raven would have thought his mind would be a buzz of activity.

"Perhaps Mad Mod's new attack did something to prevent mentally activity." The empath muses, glancing at the tall trees, suspiciously void of animal life. Even with the extreme heat that now surrounded her, almost no bugs can be seen or heard. The only noise is that of a lone cicada. "If that's the case then I need to find the emoticlones and get them back on their feet."

The half-demon shoves aside a particularly large leaf, only to find herself face-to-face with a rather large, green Beast. Silence rules the moment as Raven carefully studies the large creature in front of her. She remembers well the last time she had interacted with the Beast, so she was fairly sure it wouldn't hurt her.

The green creature is missive, at least three times Raven's height. It stares at her with beady, black eyes. Not threateningly, but not exactly full of acceptance either. Its fur bristles slightly when a quiet whimper breaks the silence. Making a quick decision, it lowers its head down below Raven's and folds back its ears.

The half-demon quickly recognizes this as a show of submission. Quite strange considering this is his territory. He must really need her help.

The Beast quickly rises from his crouch and tugs at Raven's cape with his teeth, not wanting to to waste more time. The empath allows him to lead her, and the creature basically drags the poor girl through the jungle.

The two stop in a clearing, and Raven can immediately tell what the problem is. In the center of the clearing is one of Beast Boy's emoticlones, it looks just like him except that his skin is all grey. That isn't Raven's main concern though. Her concern is the tiny cage that the whimpering emoticlone has been shoved into, far too small for someone his size.

"Just wait a moment." The half-demon mutters to the caged emoticlone. "I'll get you out of there."

There is a brief flash of black energy, and the cage bursts apart. The grey-skinned boy inside stands up hesitantly, keeping both eyes locked on the empath.

"Which emotion are you?" Raven asks bluntly, despite having a fairly good idea.

"T-Timid." The boy whispers. He lowers his head, breaking eye contact. "Thank you for freeing me."

"Alright Timid." Raven says. "What exactly happened here?"

"I don't know." Timid responds. "One moment everything was normal, and the next I'm in a cage. I heard Rage roar, but other than that everything has been quiet."

"Do you know where Rage would be?"

Timid gives her a funny look. "He's right behind you."

Raven turns, but all she sees is Beast. He looks at her with a neutral expression, not really having payed attention to anything that had being said.

...

Oh.

"I suppose that makes sense." The empath sighs. "Though he seems rather calm for an embodiment of anger."

"Well, your Rage is fairly calm too..." Timid whispers.

"Fair enough." Raven concedes.

An awkward silence follows this small exchange. Eventually, the half-demon decides to speak up once more.

"We should probably check on the other emoticlones. Do you know where they would be?"

"Many places."

"Specifics?"

Timid considered it for a moment. "It might just be best if I show you the way. Beast Boy's mind is a very dangerous place."

This surprised Raven greatly, but she didn't comment and allowed Timid to lead her away from the clearing. Beast followed behind, still strangely silent. His beady eyes didn't seem to blink as he scanned the jungle along the path.

Brushing aside a particularly group of vines, Timid cleared Raven's line of sight to a small building, surrounded by a garden of herbs. It has a shiny silver color, and seems to be made of metal. Odd, considering it is the only artificial thing to be seen.

The garden seems to be well-kept, Raven recognizes quite a few species as they pass through. Despite the large amount of flora, only a few insects can be heard, and none are visible.

"Here we are." Timid says quietly. "He's normally home. Actually, I can't remember the last time he went further than the edge of his garden."

"Who?"

"Knowledge. He likes to keep a low profile."

Beast huffs his agreement as he looks around at all the different herbs. Something catches his eye and he bounds off, though he seems to takes care not to step on too many of the carefully raised plants.

"Should we...?" Raven asks weakly, pointing at the large green creature.

Timid shook his head. "It's fine. He won't do anything bad, and I can guarantee he'll be back."

"How can you be certain."

"Uh... That's not for me to say." The grey boy murmurs, looking away in obvious embarrassment.

The empath raises an eyebrow, but doesn't push the issue.

Hoping to take attention away from his obvious nervousness, Timid dashes to a large mechanical door on the front of the building and knocks, not waiting for Raven to catch up.

"Knowledge." The grey-skinned boy calls out. "You there?"

"I... Thinksss ssso..." Comes the slurred response. "Whosss isss itsss?"

"Me, Beast, and-"

"I don like dat kina werewolf!" The voice responds, cutting Timid off. "He'sss alwaysss ssslobrin on eryting and roahrin real loud-likesss."

"Knowledge?" Timid asks, hesitantly. "Are you okay? You seem... Off."

"It cause of dat fangledsss Mod I tellsss ya!" The slurred voice responds. "I wasss all hapsy doink my reasssearchs and den next ting I knowsss I gotta bottlesss in many handsss and I can't stops da drinkink!"

"So you're drunk." Raven states flatly.

"Whosss isss dat?"

"Raven."

"Ravan? Timdisss! Why you not tellsssing me dat Ravan wuz here?"

"Sorry." The emoticlone in question whimpers. "I tried, but you interrup-"

"Neva mond! You gotsssa help meh. I cen't- con't- CAN'T ssstoond bein all tripsy-like."

"Can you let us in then?" Raven asks, silencing Timid who had been about to speak once more. The grey boy shoots her a grateful look. He is more than happy to let his empathic friend handle this.

"Yah, yah. Jussss a momant." Knowledge replies. Staggered footsteps are heard inside of the metallic structure, followed by a crash. Almost a minute later, the door swing open to reveal a battered, yellow-skinned emoticlone. He holds a beer bottle in one hand and has a pair of damaged glasses on his face. "Herro. I'ms Knowage. Wansa buy a watch?"

"Amusing." Raven says dryly. "Now put down the bottle."

"I alreadsy twied." The yellow boy says, sighing. "Buh I jus coont mak mysewf dosss it."

"You're addicted." The empath growls. "Great."

"Hey!" Knowledge protests, hiccuping. "It ain't mah faut!"

"I know." Raven sighs. "Now put it down."

"I coont!" The emoticlone repeats again. "Itsss sis tooooo hawd."

"You mean you aren't trying." Raven scoffs, taking a step towards the yellow boy, intimidating him. "And if you won't, then I will." The empath merely flicks her wrist, and the bottle disappears.

"NOOOOOO!" Knowledge cries. Tears stream down his face and he drops to his knees, sobbing, "Mah booze! Itsss awll gawn!"

"You WANTED it gone." The half-demon growls. "Now shut up before I through you into a tree."

"Buht, buht-"

"Shut it!"

The yellow-skinned boy pouts and crosses his arm, but does as Raven says. Timid glances between the two of them nervously, unsure what will happen next.

"Uh, Ravan?" Knowledge asks, hesitantly.

"Yes?" The empath sighs.

"Can you be fisking mah spclacles?"

Raven raises an eyebrow, but nods and taps the broken glasses. The cracks repair themselves and the yellow boy gives the half-demon a lopsided grin of thanks. A small silence follows the repair as each person tries to figure out exactly what to do next.

Beast solves that problem by bounding over with a clump of herbs in his mouth. He continuously nudges Raven's back, gently propelling her forward until she is inside the building.

Once the empath has been moved into the structure, Beast squeezes himself through the doorway. Sharing a glance, Knowledge and Timid follow suit.

Raven, Timid, and Knowledge all observe Beast as he shambles around, what is revealed to be, a laboratory that doubles as a house. The giant creature raises a claw to pull open a drawer and, upon not finding what it wants, quickly starts pulling open every single drawer and cabinet it can find.

"Hoy!" Knowledge protests, pulling Beast away from a cabinet full of glass beakers. "Cawrfulsss! Dose awr vauble!"

Beast huffs, as if to say "I know" and moves on to another room. Knowledge dashes after him, trying to prevent any damage from being done as both Raven and Timid trail behind.

"Any idea what he's looking for?" The empath asks dryly.

Timid shakes his head. "This is rather unusual. He normally avoids Knowledge's place like the plague."

A small bark alerts the two that Beast has found the object of his search. They step cautiously into the kitchen to see what it is. The green creature immediately bounds over to Raven and drops the object into her hands.

A tea kettle.

The empath looks up at Beast, confused. Knowledge, on the other hand, laughs out loud.

"I be thinken he likesss you!" The yellow-skinned boy chuckles, pointing to the herbs in the creature's mouth.

It only takes a moment (now that she is actually studying them) for Raven to figure out that the herbs are actually the very ones she uses in her tea every morning.

The half-demon smiles and graciously accepts the herbs when offered.

"Alright then." She says, walking over to the stove. "I guess we're having tea."

* * *

 **Chapter 2 complete. I'm trying to be a bit more descriptive, and not rushing as much. I hope it's having an effect.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"Much better." Knowledge says, taking a sip of his tea and giving a nod of appreciation to Raven. "Being a drunken fool is no fun."

Beast snorts, as if to say "for you". The yellow-skinned boy shoots the creature a glare before returning to his conversation.

"Either way, we should probably go find Brave next, he moves around the most and will probably be able to tell us where the others are." Knowledge explains.

"He'll be to protect us wherever we go." Timid adds. "He's great at beating the monsters."

Beast huffs, sounding offended. He crosses his massive arms and turns his back to the group.

"Err, no offense Rage." The grey-skinned boy says weakly. "I know you're on equal footing with him."

The green creature nods firmly and turns back around.

"So..." Raven says, putting down her shiny metal cup on the oak coffee table. "Where should we start looking?"

"Our best bet is the Great Tree." Knowledge replies, also placing his cup on the table. "That's Brave's home camp."

"What's the Great Tree?" The empath asks.

"It's the center of Beast Boy's mind. Many valuable things are stored there. Normally Rage or Brave would be around to guard it, and if Rage is out here then I imagine Brave would be there." The intellectual emoticlone pushes his glasses a bit further up his face before standing up, collecting all the tea cups, and continuing. "Though I should warn you that actually getting up the tree to reach Brave's usual spot will be a pain."

"So be it." Raven sighs. "Let's get this over with, no sense in waiting."

Knowledge and Timid nod, while Beast simply starts shambling out of the building. The other three Titans quickly follow, not wishing to be left behind.

Beast starts leading the group towards the tree, which is not visible due to the heavy canopy. He roughly shoves aside any large plant that obstructs his path, leaving a trail of trampled undergrowth and uprooted saplings for Timid, Knowledge, and Raven to walk in.

"Considering how much of a mess he makes I'm surprised there's any trees left standing..." Raven mutters, stepping over a large, mossy rock.

"Normally he doesn't do this." Knowledge chuckles. "I think it's for your benefit."

"He does know I can fly, right?"

"Are you complaining?"

"Not really..." Raven says in an indifferent tone, though in honesty she was feeling a mite sheepish.

"Then don't question it."

Needless to say, the empath remained silent for the majority of the trip. Knowledge treated her like she normally treated Beast Boy: snarky and blunt, if well-meaning.

Was she really this annoying? It was a surprise the changeling hadn't tired of her long ago if that was the case...

It doesn't take long for the group to reach the Great Tree. It was almost exactly as Raven had expected: a giant, vine-covered baobab sitting smack-dab in the middle of the largest clearing they have come across yet.

Even though she expected it, the half-demon is still momentarily in awe of the giant plant as it towers above everything else in the jungle. The leaves at the top blanket the clearing in shadows, and the numerous vines sway in a non-existent wind. Actually, they don't even all sway in the same way, almost like they're...

"Intelligent." Knowledge says, finishing Raven's though. "The Great Tree is an intelligent being unto itself. Though right now it seems to be a bit under the weather."

"How so?"

"Normally those vines would be swinging all around, not just dangling there. The Great Tree is like Beast Boy's brain, it should be active all the time."

"So... This is bad."

"Very much so."

"Can we go now?" Timid interrupts, glancing around and bumping the two conversing Titans. "We shouldn't be wasting time! What if someone breaks into the tower and attacks!?"

"Timid, that is very unlikel-" Knowledge starts, only to be interrupted.

"What if they attack the city and we aren't awake to help?!"

"Timid-"

"WHAT IF THEY EAT ALL OUR TOFU?!"

"Oh, the horror." Raven mutters dryly, glancing back at the frantic emoticlone.

"TIMID!" Knowledge shouts, whipping around and shaking the boy violently. "CUT IT OUT!"

The grey-skinned boy recoils, snapping out of his train of paranoia along with Knowledge's grip. "Hehe..." He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry..."

The yellow-skinned emoticlone sighs and shakes his head before turning back around to follow Beast. The giant green creature in question hadn't stopped when Raven had been stuck in awe, though he did slow down slightly, but by the time Timid was done freaking out he had already reached the base of the tree. At this point, he turns around and gives an impatient huff, annoyed that his counterparts and his teammate hadn't followed.

"We're coming, we're coming..." Knowledge mutters, allowing Timid to nudge him forward again.

Once the other three Titans join him at the base of the tree, Beast leaps up into the air, latching onto a branch part way up. He turns around and looks down at then, waiting once more.

"And so begins the climb." The yellow emoticlone sighs. "Let's get this over with." He stretches his shoulders for a moment before releasing a breath and shifting into the form a small yellow cat. His lithe form climbs up the trunk with surprising speed. Timid follows suit, though he turns into a grey mouse. Raven barely manages to keep track of his form as he darts in and out of the many vines draping over the tree.

Realizing that she is stalling, the half-demon calls upon her innate magic and levitate herself into the air following Beast's lead. " _Mostly because he is the easiest to keep track of._ " She thinks to herself, glancing around and not being able to see Timid for more than a second at a time. Knowledge is nowhere to be seen. " _Knowledge's color sticks out like a sore thumb, be even so he seems to be amazing at keeping out of sight._ _I would have thought Timid to be best at that._ "

The trip up the tree went rather uneventfully, not that Raven was expecting anything to happen. She reminds herself that Beast Boy's mind was basically not functioning at this point except for essentials, there wasn't much that COULD happen.

Hehe. Yeah, right.

As if appearing specifically to prove the empath wrong, a blue form rockets down from the top of the tree and slams into the half-demon, sending them spiraling to the ground. The three emoticlones freeze for a moment, share a surprised look, and promptly jump off their respective perches to help their friend.

Raven finds herself being forced to fall by a blurry blue form. It has its arms wrapped tightly around her waist and seems intent on making a pancake out of her. Thinking quickly, them empath teleports out of its grasp to a branch they had just passed, leaving the blue creature to slam into the jungle floor on its own.

Leaning against the massive trunk as the three emoticlones join her, the empath peers down on her attacker. It would seem to be a huge gorrila, or perhaps an orangutan, it's almost equal in height with Beast.

The ape, regaining its senses, pushes itself off the ground soundlessly. It looks around, glassy-eyed, for its quarry.

"What is that thing?" Raven whispers, trying not to alert it.

"Grrr..." Beast replies, staring at the creature with narrowed eyes.

"That," Knowledge says, returning to human form for a moment and crouching on the branch, "Is Brave. Though there is quite obviously something wrong with him."

Brave, having heard their whispers, turns his head and looks at them blankly. No expression crosses his face, not curiosity, not anger, not annoyance, nothing. He just stares at Raven as he approaches the tree trunks.

"Any idea how to snap him out of it?" Raven asks, not bothering to whisper anymore.

"We may have to knock him out." The yellow emoticlone sighs. "Not an easy feat."

"We'll manage." The empath replies. "I've beaten Beast Boy before."

"Yeah." Knowledge mutters, rolling his eyes. "Cause he didn't want to risk injuring you."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

At this point the ape was within leaping distance of the four Titans, having climed up the tree trunk, though it seems to only have eyes for the half-demon. It wasted no time in lunging upwards, not waiting for its foes to prepare themselves.

It is interrupted midair by the massive form of the Beast. The two crash back to the floor, biting and punching as they roll about in the undergrowth.

Not seeming to realize he is at a disadvantage, Brave continues to wrestle with his foe despite Beast's superior strength and size.

The main problem for Beast, on the other hand, is that he doesn't really want to injure his foe, as he is making his attacks much weaker than his normally bone-breaking strikes. This quickly becomes an issue as Brave has no such reservations.

Knowledge and Timid stick to the tree about a dozen meters above the fight, not really wishing to get involved unlike Raven who immediately starts using her powers to try and pry the two combatants apart.

Beast, surprisingly, is more than willing to let Raven take over and shoves Brave away from him. The giant green creature quickly scrambles to his feet before backing off slightly, though he is obviously ready to jump in.

Brave, no longer having the massive form of Beast in his face, turns back to his original target without a second thought. However, before he can do anything Raven cries out her usual mantra: "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" and clobbers him over the head with a rock.

The blue ape staggers backwards, caught off guard and stripped of his balance. This barely lasts a moment before it has recovered. Despite his injury, Brave still sports a completely blank expression, and continues to stare at the empath as he charges forward once more.

"Sorry Brave." Raven says quietly. She holds out an open palm towards the ape before closing it into a fist.

From all around Brave, dark energy springs from the ground, wrapping around his powerful form. Sadly, his strength is no match for the empath's magic and he is completely enveloped.

The jungle is silent for a moment as Raven, Timid, Knowledge, and Beast all stare at the glowing black orb that houses Brave. It hovers ominously in the air for a few seconds before splitting open and dropping an unconscious blue-skinned boy at their feet.

"He's down for the count." Knowledge notes, returning to human form and taking a knee near his fellow emoticlone. He quickly checks the pulse and breathing, though he doubts Raven would have been so careless. "Hopefully he'll be normal when he wakes up."

"Hopefully?" Raven asks dryly, raising an eyebrow. "And that means...?

"Probably." The yellow-skinned boy replies, motioning for Beast to pick up Brave. "I'd hate to knock him out again, his pride would never recover."

"Oh, no." Says the half-demon, gasping rather sarcastically. "What a shame that would be."

"Y-You WANT him to have a low opinion of himself?" Timid asks, looking at his teammate in faint horror.

"What? No! Timid, it's sarcasm." Raven explains quickly. She knows from experience that Timid can get out of control with ridiculous speed if not dealt with. Of course, that raises the problem of always watching what you say. " _Hopefully this won't be a problem, there are still four emoticlones to go, and we don't need more complications._ "

Turning around, Raven looks up at the large green they still must climb, now with the added burden of an unconscious Brave.

This is going to be a loooong climb.

* * *

 **Chapter 3 complete.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans. Sorry for the long wait, school work and such.**

* * *

"How large IS this thing?" Raven grumbles under her breath. She shoots upwards at a fast pace, wanting this climb to be over with.

"I have no idea." Knowledge replies honestly, only sparing a moment in human form before turning back into a cat. His lithe form darts up the tree by gripping the vines.

"Squeak!" Timid adds, not bothering to shift out of mouse form. He is barely visible at all under the tangle of vines as he scampers up the trunk.

Beast contributes a grunt to the conversation while climbing up the tree with ease thanks to his sharp claws. Of course, he is still holding Brave in one hand, but he's still fast none the less.

Speaking of Brave, the vines around the trunk have started to become more active since he was defeated, to the point of weakly grabbing at the empath as she flies by.

"Stupid vines..." Raven growls, swatting them away. "I don't think I'll be hanging around here very often."

"I would hope not." Groans a certain blue-skinned boy, just waking up. "It'd be kinda annoying to have to chase you off every time you dropped by."

"The sleeper wakes." The empath replies dryly, eyeing Brave with a raised eyebrow. "And good luck chasing me off, I just knocked you out and I'm not even worse for wear."

"I wasn't myself!" Brave protests, freeing himself from Beast's grip before latching onto vines. "If I had been in the right state of mind you would have been down for the count in less then a minute!"

Beast gives a warning growl and cuffs Brave on the head upon hearing this. The blue emoticlone shoots him a glare and doesn't continue the conversation. He climbs the tree without the need to shift to a different form.

The silence doesn't last long. Most of Beast Boy's emoticlones are just as chatty as he is.

"So Rae..." Brave asks, hopping up to a nearby branch. "What made you decide to free Beast Boy first?"

"What makes you think I did?" The empath replies, narrowing her eyes.

"Because if you had freed someone else they would have insisted on helping to free the others."

Raven sighs. She can't really argue with that. "Honestly? Happy chose for me. She played Ennie, meanie, miney, moe."

"She didn't tag along?"

"She tried."

Brave edges further away from the empath.

"What?" Raven snaps, scowling at the blue emoticlone. "You think I did something terrible to her?"

"Uhh... No?"

The half-demon sighs as she looks sideways at the blue boy. "She's a part of me. I couldn't do anything bad to her or I would be having problems myself."

...

"Are you implying I have problems?"

"Maybe" Brave responds, whispering.

" _Oh dear._ " Knowledge thinks, watching Raven warily.

###

From a rock floating in endless black space, a certain pink-cloaked girl waits, sitting patiently on a stone. She swings her legs back and forth, bored out of her mind.

Or, err... Raven's mind? Do emoticlone's have minds of their own? Whatever, I say they do, so they do!

The girl, known as Happy, sighs as she gazes at the entrance to the jungle.

" _I wanna help!_ " She thinks to herself, whining mentally. She hops off her seat and paces back and forth. It is against her nature to stay still for long. " _Maybe I should just go in. If I end up helping she'll forget all about telling me to stay out here, right?_ "

...

" _Who am I kidding?_ " Happy sighs sadly, slumping to the floor. "But I wanna help..."

"Then go."

The pink girl's head whips around to see one of her counterparts standing behind her, hands on her hips. The green emoticlone raises an eyebrow and grins.

"I'd go instead, but I just smash stuff. You'll be much more help, so go."

"Really?!" Happy's eyes shine as she looks up at Brave.

"Yeah, really. Now go before I start thinking logically."

"That's Knowledge's job." Happy laughs, springing up and dashing for the trees. "Thanks Brave! Make sure to pull us out if we call!"

"Sure, whatever." Brave mutters as the pink girl disappears into the treeline. She stretches her muscles and drops into a fighting pose and starts punching the air, exercising as she waits."I hope I didn't just make a big mistake... But Rae definitely isn't the best at this emotional stuff, so Happy it is."

###

"Are we done here? These vines are different, they're... Looking at me." Raven says, glancing around the inside of the tree.

"That would be because they're snakes." Knowledge says, not even bothering to look at the empath. He inspects a part of the tree that seems to be glowing before moving deeper inside.

"I hate you." Raven growls, following behind him.

###

It takes nearly an hour for Knowledge and Brave to finish... Whatever the hell they were doing. As far as Raven can figure, they were talking to a tree and making things glow.

Primal magic, ugh. She was right, Beast Boy's mind IS weird.

It doesn't help that Brave seemingly doesn't trust her. What did she ever do to him?

"Why didn't you let Happy come then?" The blue boy asks, keeping his narrowed eyes on the empath.

"Like I said before." Raven says, gritting her teeth. "It wasn't necessary."

"Hmm..."

A vein pulses in the half-demon's temple.

"She would have just hindered my progress."

"Right... Cause you're amazing at this emotional stuff, right?"

Raven turns slowly towards the blue emoticlone.

"Are you saying that I'm not being helpful?"

"Well-"

"You weren't exactly in your right mind until I came along and set you straight!"

"Hey! That's-"

"Because you got hit, and I was the only one who wasn't. So I suggest you STOP PISSING ME OFF and help the others."

Brave holds Raven's gaze, distrust written across his face.

"Brave..." Knowledge sighs. "Stop already, Raven is our friend."

"But-"

"Not now. We can debate this later."

The blue emoticlone continues to hold the half-demon's gaze for a few more seconds before turning away, growling.

"Sorry." Knowledge sighs, walking forward and putting himself between Brave and Raven. "He's not the most trusting. Being brave seems to mean being paranoid to him."

" _And if it means that to Brave, it also means that to Beast Boy._ " Raven thinks to herself. She acknowledges the yellow boy's apology with a nod of her head and goes back to scanning the jungle.

"We should be getting close to Rude's territory soon." Knowledge says, swatting a large leaf out of his face. "With any luck, he'll come to us."

"Since when has luck ever been on our side?" The half-demon grumbles.

Beast snorts, agreeing with the pale girl.

"I suppose I just jinxed us, didn't I?" The yellow-skinned boy sighs, rubbing his glasses clear of fog.

"Hope Timid doesn't freak." Brave snorts.

...

"Hey..." The blue boy says slowly, glancing around. "Where the hell is Timid anyways?"

###

How could he have gotten separated? He looked away for just one moment and they were gone!

The little grey mouse glances around fearfully, reacting to every small noise it hears. Each rustle could be a snake, each chirp a bird. The Great Tree was bad enough, but those snakes were just defenders. Now that he's back in the jungle...

" _I could turn back into a human._ " Timid considers. " _But then I might alert a panther! Or a lion! Or-!_ "

A whisper cuts off the paranoid boy's train of thought.

"Wow... These trees are huge..."

" _That sounds like Raven!_ " Timid thinks in relief. " _Maybe they didn't go as far as I thought._ "

The grey mouse scampers up a tree and along the branches, trying to locate his empathic teammate. He constantly flicks his ear around, trying to hear her.

"Ohhh! Look at this one. It's even bigger than the rest! And there are so many vines..."

" _She's back at the Great Tree?_ " Timid dashes backwards, slightly confused. " _We don't need to do anything else there, why would she come back?_ "

The mouse crawls cautiously into the clearing around the Great Tree, balancing on a long branch. He looks around, not seeing anyone.

"Mousie!"

" _Raven does NOT say 'mousie'_." Timid thinks. A few seconds later another though hits him. " _Wait... I'm a 'mousie'!_ "

A shadow falls across the grey emoticlone, and he looks at the cause in panic.

" _I'm done for._ "

###

"Timid!" Knowledge calls out, pushing aside a branch. "Timid!"

"C'mon Tim, not now!" Brave shouts, hopping from treetop to treetop.

"Awooooo!" Beast howls, raising his head up high. "Awooooo!"

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Raven murmurs, ducking under Beast's outstretched arm, her eyes glowing black. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

The half-demon ignores get yelling of the others, instead allowing her empathic abilities to lead her towards Timid by sensing his emotions.

"What did you do to Timid?" Brave drops down from the tree was was standing on to land directly in front of Raven. "You made him disappear because he was annoying, didn't you?!"

"Azara- What?" Raven stumbles, grabbing on to the nearest branch. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm Beast Boy's friend, I wouldn't mess with his mind like that!"

"Sure you wouldn't..." Brave says icily, crossing his arms and allowing sarcasm to roll into his tone. "It's not like you haven't before."

"Name once!" Raven challenges angrily.

"Remember that time when you forcefully changed him from a fly to a rat? You did that by tricking his mind into believing that's what he wanted."

"Err..." The empath flinchs slightly.

"Or how about the time all those times you threatened him?"

"I wasn't serious!"

"My point exactly. You lied; MULTIPLE times, and never bothered to inform him that you weren't serious."

"I-I..."

"ENOUGH." A deep, raspy voice cuts into Brave's little rant. "As much as I enjoy a good fight, this isn't the time."

Everyone turns to look at the red-skinned boy who stands where Beast had been only moments before. He glares at Brave with angry red eyes.

"I agree with you Brave, but this is not the time to bring it up. You can chew her out later." Rage growls. "Right now we need to find Timid, and I believe Raven knows how."

"I was tracking him before Brave interrupted." Raven informs them. "Just stay silent and this will be much quicker."

Brave glowers at the half-demon, but doesn't speak. Knowledge is silent, glancing at each of his teammates in turn. Rage huffs before shifting back into the form of the Beast. Now that Raven had seen his normal form, she wondered why his skin color didn't stay the same.

That was a thought for a later time. Finding Timid was top priority now.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 complete.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans. Don't worry, we'll get together the other Titans eventually. It may take a few more chapters though. I also feel like I should point out the difference between using " or ' around a sentence, since I don't recall ever doing such. " means someone is speaking (it is also used around quotes), and ' means someone is thinking, kay?**

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

"Are we-"

"Brave, if you say that one more time I'll rip your tongue out of your mouth." Raven hisses, eyes narrowed.

The blue boy growls in response, but doesn't speak again.

The empath takes a deep breath, calming herself, before locating Timid once more. Her senses detect the normal fear and paranoia that one would expect from the grey emoticlone. However, she also detects and unhealthy dose of terror.

'That can't be good,' Raven thinks as she shoves aside a few branches. 'What in Azar's name could be happening?'

###

'I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead!' The grey boy thinks, curling up into a ball as he is plucked off his branch.

"Hello mousie!" The voice chirps. "Do you want to play tag?"

Timid doesn't respond. He just stays curled up, hoping the figure will just leave him alone or think he's dead.

"I already saw you moving!" The voice giggles. The grey emoticlone can feel a hand poke his back. "I know you can hear me!"

Timid considers his options. A: reveal himself and be subjected to a horrible fate. B: Don't reveal himself and be subjected to a horrible fate.

Neither sound very appealing, but Timid would prefer to know the identity of his killer, so he opens his eyes and looks up.

The girl looks almost exactly like Raven, except she's smiling and has a pink cloak.

Being a part of Beast Boy, the grey emoticlone now knows EXACTLY who this is. He immediately proceeds to panic and tries to escape.

###

"Mousie! Stop running!"

Raven's head snaps to the side from which the voice came. Sweat trickles down the back of her neck. 'Why is SHE here?!'

"Raven..." Knowledge says slowly. "Was that... You?"

"In a manner of speaking." The empath says through gritted teeth. "I'm going to be having a word with her."

A moment a small grey mouse bursts through the leaves. It runs right into Beast as it isn't paying any attention to what's happening. A pink cloaked girl, who we would know already as Happy, quickly follows. Her arms are outstretched as she tries in vain to grab the mouse now situated on Beast's head.

"Nooo!" Happy pouts, jumping up in an attempt to reach the fearful rodent. "Come down mousie!"

Raven clears her throat. "Ahem."

The excitable girl freezes, her arms still high in the air. "Oh..." She says, lowering her arms. "Hi Rae..."

"Don't "Hi Rae" me!" Raven growls. "I told you to stay outside."

"But I wanna help!" Happy complains. "And there was a mousie!" She flails her arm in Timid's general direction.

The half-demon sighs as she speaks again. "Firstly; too bad, you'll probably just cause trouble, and secondly; that's not a normal mouse. It's Timid."

The pink-cloaked girl immediately perks up. "It is?!"

"Indeed." Knowledge affirms.

Happy turns to look at the mouse, which in turn tries to hide behind Beast's massive bulk. Beast refuses to have any of it and promptly plucks the fearful rodent off his back and drops it in Happy's hands.

"Why didn't you want to play tag?" The pink girl asks, putting on a mock expression of hurt. The grey mouse fidgets, not looking up at the girl.

"He's Timid." Brave scoffs, "What did you expect? And for Azar's sake Timid, just turn back to human form and talk!"

The mouse squeaks and hops to the floor. A moment later there is a cowering grey-skinned boy where the mouse used to be.

"Ummm..." Timid gulps, looking around at everyone's disapproving glares. "Sorry?"

"We spent almost half and hour looking for you when we could have already been in Rude's territory!" Knowledge shouts, staring down the grey boy. "I expect no more detours, is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Timid says, shrinking back from the yellow boy.

"No need to yell." Happy pouts, moving to stand in front of the boy with her hands on her hips. "Who's to say he didn't get lost?"

Knowledge snorts. "Irrelevant, the point is that we've wasted time. Now let's move!"

"Just a second." Raven growls. "Happy needs to leave first."

"What?!" Happy gasps. "No way! You need me!"

"Like hell." Raven snorts. "Out!"

"No." Happy responds, crossing her arms. "There's no way YOU will be able to help with Beast Boy's Affection or Happy when we find them. You're too sullen. So I'm staying."

Raven opens her mouth to protest, but nothing comes out. She points a finger at Happy and growls, but in the end she just shakes her head in defeat. After all, the pink girl might actually be right.

###

Traveling was becoming a bit of an issue. Happy would not stop trying to piggy-back ride Beast (and dragging Timid along with her), Brave still didn't trust Raven, and was very vocal about it, while Knowledge was still annoyed about the delay, which he made painfully clear every ten seconds.

'I'm going to have to do this four more times?!' Raven groans mentally, dropping her face into her hands.

###

"Greetings." Said the new arrival, standing directly in front of the group.

Raven and co. had been traveling for a good hour inside Rude's territory (which had taken half an hour to reach in the first place) with absolutely no trace of Rude until he just showed up around a corner, standing perfectly straight, and bowed to them.

'Honestly,' Raven thinks to herself, eyeing the orange-skinned boy, 'knowing he's supposed to be sarcastic and such, this is kinda freaky'.

"Uh... Rude? What are you doing?" Brave asks, clearly suspicious.

"I am greeting you of course. I thought it was obvious." Rude replied, bowing slightly once more.

"Riiiiight..." Brave mutters, taking a step back.

"I believe Brave meant to ask WHY you are acting as you are." Knowledge says, stepping in.

"It was most peculiar." Rude comments, eyes blurring as he remembers. "I was doing as I normally would, bothering Affection that is, when all of a sudden it hit me. I was being a total jerk, I had always been a total jerk and just didn't care! How unfeeling of me! So I stopped immediately of course and set about rectifying my behavior."

"That's... Interesting." Knowledge notes. "It sounds somewhat like my sudden alcohol addiction."

"Or my sudden loss of control." Brave adds.

"Or my impulse to hide in a cage." Timid says quietly.

"Grrrrr." Beast growls.

"Wait, I though you said you got trapped in a cage?" Raven says, slightly confused.

"I didn't want to sound pathetic..." The grey boy whimpers, ears dropping as he looked up at the empath from a crouched position.

"You always sound pathetic." Brave snorts.

"Uncalled for!" Happy pouts, pointing at finger at the blue emoticlone. "You're supposed to make people smile, not frown!"

"I don't care what you think." Brave sneers, bringing himself nose-to-nose with pink-cloaked girl. "You're probably here just to convince us that Raven can be trusted anyways!"

The two Titans engage in a starring contest. Brave continues to hold his sneer while Happy looks at him with irritation. This only lasts for a few seconds before Rude steps in between them.

"Hold." The orange boy says, pushing the two apart. "Please, no arguing here."

Brave turns on him, ignoring Happy for a moment. "Are you sure you're Rude? The Rude I know would always encourage an argument."

"Yeah!" Happy agreed. "Just like Raven's Rude! Cept' this Rude is kinda wimpy."

'That came out of nowhere.' Raven thinks to herself, watching the strange conversation from a few steps away. 'Happy isn't one to randomly insult people.'

"Wha-?!" Rude splutters, staring wide-eyed at Happy. "I am not wimpy! Whatever gave you that impression?"

"Aside from you insistence on not fighting? Nothing." Happy says cheerily, dancing around a bit.

"Timid insists that we shouldn't fight! I don't hear you calling him wimpy!" The orange boy protests.

"Are you trying to drag down someone else with you?" Brave snorts. "Pathetic."

Raven can see a vein pulse in the emoticlone's head. Rude is at his wit's end already.

"That's it you jerks!" Rude hisses, glaring at the two Titans. "No more mister nice guy!" The orange boy lunges at the two emoticlones in front of him, bringing them both to the floor as he yells insults and tries to headlock them.

Raven, Timid, and Beast all watch as their three companions scuffle on the ground. Brave easily comes out on top, though he seems to intentionally loosen his grip in order to let Rude escape and continue the fight. Happy, surprisingly, is also able to manage this as couple times, much to Rude's irritation.

"I think he's better now." Timid whispers, cautiously walking to stand beside Raven.

"What are you talking about?" Raven asks, confused.

"Rude." The grey boy says patiently. "He's fine now."

The empath pauses, and observes the orange boy. There is almost no sign of his formerly polite attitude as he tries, and fails, to pin one of his opponents.

"Stop moving ya insignificant pile of trash!" He growls, lunging at Happy.

The pink girl laughs and ducks, allowing Rude to sail almost completely over her head before twirling around and pouncing on him. For the tenth time in as many minutes, Rude finds himself in a headlock without sufficient strength to escape. Apparently Happy is much stronger than she appears. Either that or Rude is a weakling, which is a distinct possibility.

"C'mon Rude." Brave chuckles. "Just give up. Even Happy can pin ya down."

The orange boy struggles and protests for a few more minutes before finally surrendering. Happy rolls off from on top and offers him a hand up.

Rude eyes the hand warily, almost positive this is another trap.

"Gee." Brave snorts, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "Who's the suspicious one now?"

Unsurprisingly, the orange boy shoots Brave a dirty look, but he does accept the hand and allows Happy to haul him this feet.

Rude dusts himself off while Timid quickly looks him over to make sure he is uninjured. Happy skips over to Raven, grinning madly.

"See?" She laughs.

"See what?" Raven deadpans.

"I told you I would be needed!"

Raven is silent for a moment as she watches Rude growl at Timid for his incessant worrying, only to be forced to stop by Beast. The empath has to admit that Happy is probably right, there's no way she could have pulled that off, as Rude would have expected her to be a jerk, but it was highly doubtful he could have anticipated Happy teaming up with Brave to snap him out of it.

"Alright." The empath sighs. "I admit that your assistance may have been necessary."

"~Told ya so~!" Happy sing-songs.

"I hate you-"

"You've mentioned that many times." The pink girl giggles. "But you still haven't done anything despite it."

"- so very, very much..."

* * *

 **Chapter 5 complete. I am slow, deal with it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"Hup!"

"Yah!"

"Haargh!"

The girl in the green cloak punches and kicks at the air as she goes through her routine.

Left hook.

Right knee jab.

Backward roundhouse.

Righ- Wait, what was that?

Brave stops abruptly, seeing something out of the corner of her eye. She turns in a full circle to locate whatever it was that she saw.

Nothing.

" _That doesn't make sense._ " The green emoticlone thinks, narrowing her eyes. " _We're on a rock barely bigger than Raven's bedroom! There's nowhere to hide._ "

"Helloooo~!"

Brave jumps forward, surprised when someone speaks into her ear. She whirls around and freezes in place, unsure what to think of the boy in front of her.

The boy in question is a good head smaller than Brave, he was standing on the tip of his toes to speak into her ear. That aside, he is also stick thin. Brave doesn't doubt that she could fit his wrist between her forefinger and thumb.

Scraggly brown hair that drops to shoulder height and bright, though sunken blue eyes make up his skull-like face. His cheeks are hallowed, outlining his jaw clearly. The veins all over his body are quite visible.

He wears a simple black t-shirt and shorts, both cotton. His boots are of he same color, and seems to be made of a leather-like material.

"Uh..." Brave stalls, staring wide-eyed at this zombie like boy. "Hi?"

"Hi!" He cackles, dancing a little jig. "Hi, Brave! Hi, hi, hi!"

Sweat rolls down the green-cloaked girl's neck. "Riiiiight... Who are you exactly?"

"I'm Emotion!"

"I figured." Brave deadpans. "But which one?"

"No silly!" The boy laughs hysterically. He skips up to Brave and bops her on the head with one of his fists. "Not one. ALL of them!"

The green-cloaked girl stared at him for a moment before abruptly sitting down.

"I must have heard wrong." She muttered, massaging her forehead. "Did you say "all of them"?"

"Yeah..." The boy sighed, suddenly drooping and adopting a sad expression. He paused, thinking, before shaking his head. "Actually, all but two. He split off only a few months ago. I keep on forgetting he exists when he's not actually around."

That grabbed Brave's attention. "Who?" She asked urgently, standing up. "Who's the new emotion?"

"Affection." Emotion informed her, still looking depressed. "He's actually responsible for both happiness and love, so he likes to think affection is the middle ground."

The green girl pondered this for a moment. Eventually she spoke up, asking a question that had bothered her ever since seeing this strange boy. "Who's mind are you from?"

"Over there dimwit." Emotion sneered, pointing with one arm to the white door with the orange M painted on it. His other arm is on his hip, and he stands with it jutted out, clearly unimpressed.

"Okay then." Brave sighs. "How did you get out?"

"By walking, duh." The skeletal boy scoffs.

"You know what I mean." Brave groans.

"S-Sorry." Emotion whimpers, suddenly backing away and crouching defensively. His hands rise to cover his head. "I found this weird trail of black energy and followed it."

" _Remnants of Raven's spell probably._ " Brave thinks to herself. " _But the fact that one of Shadow's emoticlones managed to force his way into this link area is a testament to his mental strength._ "

She watches as Emotion cycles from fearful, to angry, to curious.

" _But seriously, only two emoticlones for his entire emotional spectrum? That can't be healthy. Just what is wrong with his mind for this to happen?"_

###

"Are we there yet?"

"No Happy."

"How 'bout now?"

"No Happy."

"How-"

"NO Happy. I won't be saying yes for a while." Raven groans.

"Awww..." The pink-cloaked girl pouts, jutting out her lower lip. "Can't we go faster then?"

"You want to fly blindly through a thick jungle at full speed? Be my guest." Raven snorts, shoving aside a rather large leaf and stepping over a large stone.

"Gonna have to agree with Rae here." Rude chuckles, swatting away a broken branch. "Not a good idea. Trust me, we're going as fast as is reasonable."

"But I've seen you guys go faster before!" Is Happy's argument.

"When fighting or fleeing perhaps, but unless we wish to tires ourselves out there is no better speed than this." Knowledge informs the pink girl, offering her his hand to help her over a log.

"Beast is getting sloppy." Brave notes sourly, hopping over he log Happy had just been helped over while staring up ahead at the massive green creature. "I thought he was clearing a path for us, we're having to climb every damn log we come across!"

"He's been at this for a while, give him a break." Happy huffs, giving Brave a disapproving look. "Right Timid?"

"U-Uh. Y-Yeah." Timid stutters before hiding under the pink-girl's cloak when the blue shapeshifter shoots him a glare.

Happy giggles, stroking the poor boy's hair as he tires his best to stay out of Brave's sight..

Raven just sighs as she broods. " _Happy is making this so much more annoying that it has to be, but I really did need her help... At least Timid seems to be capable of keeping her attention, albeit unintentionally_."

"Hey, Rae!"

" _Though not for very long apparently._ " Raven grimaces, turning her head to look at Happy. "You better not be asking if we're there yet."

"I saw someone!"

Everybody immediately stops. Beast notes that no one is following and comes back to join the group, huffing in confusion.

"Over there!" Happy says, flailing an arm to the right. "It was pink like me! Right Timid?"

"Y-Yeah."

Knowledge narrows his eyes, looking in the direction Happy had indicated. Everyone else quickly followed suit, staring randomly into the trees.

Beast, on the other hand, took a completely different approach. He charged where Happy had pointed. His massive form disappeared from view for a few seconds and loud roars could be heard. A minute later he came back into their field of view, chasing a small pink form.

The pink dog came barreling out of the trees. It came to a screeching halt just inches away from hitting Raven. Beast was quick to follow, but stopped a decent distance away, making sure ethereal dog didn't run.

The dog was small and furry, only about a foot and a half tall. It stares up at all of them with panic, its eyes fliting from one person to the next.

"DOGGIE!" Happy immediately yells, diving at the poor creature. It tries to avoid her, but fails and is drawn into a tight hug.

"That's one way to subdue it." Knowledge says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Fight fire with fire, and Happy with Happy."

The pink dog, Beast Boy's Happy, yowls in terror as Raven's Happy snuggles it joyfully.

"Doggie, doggie, doggie~!" The pink-cloaked girl singsongs, rocking back and forth giddily. The dog in her arms struggles to try and free itself.

"So, I guess the problem with Happy is that he isn't- well- happy." Knowledge says, watching the two Happys closely.

"So how do we cheer him up? Let Raven's Happy strangle him?" Brave pauses for a moment before speaking again. "Can we, like, come up with a different name for one of these two? I don't wanna call them both Happy."

"Let's call the Raven one "pest"." Rude suggests. He is instantly swatted on the head by Beast, which ends with the orange boy being knocked face-first into the dirt.

"We could call Raven's Happy "Joy" instead." Timid offers, tentatively contributing to the conversation.

"I like it!" Hap- Err, Joy responds, looking up thoughtfully. "Joy. Like happy! But joyful!"

"I still think "Pest" is more accurate." Rude mutters, standing up and dusting himself off. A moment later he is knocked back into the dirt, this time, surprisingly, by Timid.

"Way to go Timid." Brave says, chuckling at Rude's curses. "You defend your girlfriend."

"What?! NO." The grey boy says, instantly panicking. His hands dart back and forth as he tries to find something to say. "I- but- he was- she-" Eventually the poor boy gives up and settles for curling in a ball behind Beast.

Laughter rings out loudly, and it isn't Joy. The pink dog is no more, in its place is a pink version of Beast Boy, clutching his stomach while laughing his head off.

"It's not funny." Joy says, annoyed. Her arms have crossed and she is glaring at her counterpart.

"Speak for yourself!" Happy snickers, wiping tears from his eyes. "Ahh, laughter. The best medicine!"

"Suffice to say, Happy is back to normal." Knowledge mutters, shaking his head. "That was quick."

Joy walks over to sit beside Timid, who is still hiding behind Beast. "Was Brave close?" She asks softly. "Do you feel that close to me?"

Timid nods slightly.

The pink girl sighs, looking out at Raven and the other emoticlones who are all celebrating Happy's return to normalcy.

"It's a shame, isn't it?" Joy murmurs, glancing down at Timid. "The real Titans get to live their lives to the fullest, and all we can do is watch. We never interact with anyone who isn't another version of ourself, unless there are special circumstances."

The grey boy uncurls, and sits up next to Joy, his face slightly red, but with a sad look.

"It sucks." Timid says finally, glancing over at Joy. "Even if we meet others by some twist of fate, we can never keep the friendships we make knowing that we'll never see them again. We're trapped in these... Mindscapes."

"But we need to keep on trucking." Joy agrees, standing up and offering the grey boy her hand. "Even if we can't live our lives, we need to do our best to make sure our host can."

Timid nods sadly, accepting the hand and letting Joy pull him to his feet.

###

Raven watches the two clones speak to each other in hushed tones while all the others question Happy about what happened. She isn't positive what Joy and Timid are conversing about, but whatever it is ends with both of them having a resigned look on their faces, like they have realized some sad truth.

It was strange really. The two had met only a few hours ago, and they were already inseparable, and Timid had been absolutely terrified of Joy. A fast friendship, just like how Raven and the other Titans on that fateful day.

The empath turns away when Joy's gaze meets hers. She can't help feel guilty, despite not knowing the conversation. The pink girl is one of her emoticlones after all, so what she feels affects Raven and vice versa.

Uncomfortable with the way Joy is staring, Raven turns back to the main group.

"-was really scared; like, REALLY scared." Happy babbles. "I felt like Timid the entire time! Always freaking out and running from every little thing!"

"I don't run from every little thing!" Timid protests, joining the conversation.

"Yes, you do." Knowledge says bluntly. "I saw you running from the carrots I had picked once because you thought they had uprooted themselves."

The grey boy blushs and falls silent. Knowledge wasn't exactly wrong.

"Can we get moving now?" Brave complains, tapping an imaginary wristwatch. "We got friends to save."

"Fine, fine." Happy huffs. He skips to the front of the group and spins around to face them all. "But I'm still gonna tell you guys all about my time in panicville!"

"Azar, save me now." Raven sighs, massaging her forehead.

###

"This doesn't seem like a good idea." The green-cloaked girl says bluntly.

"Technically speaking, it isn't." Emotion confirms with a serious look. "But if we can find Affection and help him out by ourselves, that's one less thing for Raven to do, right?"

"I suppose." Brave sighs, looking forward at the large orange M on the door before her. "Just one last question before we go in."

"What?" The skeletal boy snaps.

"How come you weren't affected by Mod's hypnosis?"

"I thought it was obvious." Emotion growls. A moment later a maniac grin crosses his face. "I'm already crazy, so there wasn't much more it could do to me!"

Brave watchs him warily as he clutches his sides, laughing hysterically. " _What am I getting myself into?_ "

* * *

 **Chapter 6 complete. Being an emoticlone isn't all it's cracked up to be, and Shadow only has two proper emoticlones, one of which is a bit crazy.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"So now we only need to find Sloth and Affection?" Raven asks, following along behind Beast while conversing with Knowledge.

He nods, humming happily to himself. "Indeed. Beast Boy is almost whole again."

"Then we can go and help the other Titans!" Happy chirps from his perch on Beast's back. Not that Beast actually let him sit up there. The pink boy invited himself.

"Of course." Raven grumbles. "I forgot that I have to do this four more times."

"At least BB will be awake to help, right?" Joy offers, smiling.

"You say that like it's a good thing." The empath mutters quietly.

"H-He tries his best!" Timid squeaks at Raven, popping his head out from beside Joy. "He doesn't mean to annoy you all the time!"

"I know." The half-demon sighs. "But that doesn't stop him from being a pest. A well-meaning one, granted, but a pest."

"Screw you too." Rude snarks, shooting Raven a resentful glare. "Sorry for him wanting to stick around his friend."

Raven groans in irritation. " _I can't win..._ "

###

A dark hallway made of metallic grey panels. Every section looks similar, sliding doors provide the only disruption to the otherwise smooth walls. The lights on the ceiling are dim, only providing the barest amount of light necessary.

The girl in the green cloak follows behind the skeletal boy as he leads her down several such hallways. Each the same as the last. No sound can be heard but their own footsteps.

The silence unnerves Brave immensely. It sends chills up her spine to turn a corner only to see the exact same hallway.

It doesn't help that the person leading her is a crazy emancipated boy who changes his attitude every five seconds.

"Raven?"

Brave's head snaps up upon hearing the voice. It sounds like a child, though not one Raven is familiar with. The girl in green flinchs when she feels something tug at her cloak.

She turns around slowly and looks down.

It is indeed a child, but he fits more what Brave would have expected out of Shadow's emoticlones. Only two feet tall, the boy has pink irises and hair, while his pupils remain bright red. He wears a tiny version of his host's cloak, which is still pitch-black.

Otherwise he is a spitting image of the hero from Blacksoak.

"You must be Affection." Brave says slowly, kneeling down to look the boy in the eye.

"Yep!" The boy chirps. A large smile breaks over his face. "And you're Raven!"

"Uh... I'm not Raven, well, not exactly. I'm her Brave emoticlone." The green girl admits, scratching the back of her head.

"You're still a friend!" Affection says, dancing a similar jig to the ones Emotion had done before.

Brave observes the tiny emoticlone with a certain amount of caution. There had to be something wrong with him, or else Shadow would have appeared in the rock between minds. The problem was figuring out what was different, and because Raven knew almost nothing about the hero of Blacksoak, neither did Brave.

"Emotion." The green girl calls to the skeletal boy watching them from the wall. "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"He's kinda new so..." Emotion says. He pauses a moment before shaking his head. "Honestly I wouldn't be able to tell. I'm still getting used to the fact he exists at all."

Brave groans and sits down on the hard metal floor. She lowers her gaze from Emotion to look back at Affection, who is curiously pawing at her cape.

"How old are you again?" The girl in green sighs. "and why are you pawing my cape?"

"I'm one!" Affection laughs, tugging at the green material. "And it looks like a good blanket!"

"One year old?" Brave groans.

"One MONTH old." Emotion corrects. "I thought I mentioned this before... Were you not listening? Am I that boring?" His face turns into a frown. His eyes watering. "I'm sorry for being so boring!"

Another groan from Brave. " _I don't know what to do!_ " She whines to herself. " _I wish Knowledge were here... She could figure this out in seconds._ "

###

"Sloooth!" Happy calls out while standing on Beast's shoulders. "Hey Sloooth! Say something buddy, we're here to help!"

"Speak for yourself. I'm just here so I can leave faster." Raven mutters, wiping the swamp slime off her cloak.

Unsurprisingly, Sloth lives in the dirtiest part of the Beast Boy's min-

Okay, wow. That came out wrong.

Let's try this again...

Sloth lives in a swamp, which is most unsanitary part of Beast Boy's mind. (There we go!) The ground is submerged beneath a layer of muddy water, and the vines and tree trunks seem to ooze a greenish slime that clings to everything it touches.

Raven was surprised to learn that each emoticlone's transformation wasn't just a preferred form, it was the **only** form they could use. This basically meant that anyone who couldn't fly was going to be getting slimed unless they had help.

This is fine for Timid and Knowledge, they simply hitched rides with Joy and Raven respectively. Brave, Beast and Happy on the other hand, do not have that leisure. Happy decided to just stick on Beast's shoulders while he and Brave waded through the swamp water.

They had been at this for an hour now, trying to find the elusive Sloth to no avail.

"Gee. Where is this guy?" Joy giggles. "At least your Sloth has the courtesy to tell visitors where she is!"

"Yeah, well this is Beast Boy." Happy says dismissively, making a negative gesture with his hand. "He's got more "lazy potential" than Rae."

"I don't think that's a proper term." Brave mutters, trudging through the water with annoyance. He trips over something under the water's surface and falls, but Raven uses her powers to catch him before his face hits the water. "Thank you."

A nod from Raven is the only response.

"Wait a moment." Happy says, suddenly freezing. "If Sloth is acting abnormal like the rest of us were, then there's no guarantee that he's actually here."

"So we might be getting all dirty in the swamp for **no reason at all**?" Raven growls, looming over the pink boy.

"Yeah, maybe." Happy admits, giving a weak smile. "But we had to check, right?"

The empath continued to glare at the pink boy until Knowledge paws her in the face.

"Meow." He says sternly, shaking his head in disapproval.

"You're getting on my case too?" Raven groans in exasperation.

"Meow." Knowledge says affirmatively.

"I can't believe I'm taking attitude from a cat." The half-demon hisses, floating away from Happy.

"Meow." The yellow feline says in an even tone.

"I hate you." Raven mutters, shaking her head and looking away from Knowledge.

If cats could look smug, the one on Raven's shoulder certainly managed it.

"Squeak!"

"What is it boy?" Joy laughs, comically cupping a hand to her ear to listen to what Timid had to say.

"Squeak squeak, squeak! Squeak squeak squeaaaak!"

"What? You say little Jimmy fell down a well?"

"Squeak!" Timid protests.

"I know, I know. I'll tell them." The pink girl laughs, taking her hand away from her ear. She turns to face everyone else. They are staring at her intently. "I'm not crazy, I swear!" Joy giggles, holding her hands in the air.

"Cut the crap Joy, just spit it out." Raven sighs. "We all know you just used telepathy, you weren't fooling anyone."

"Spoil sport." The pink girl sighs, rolling her eyes. "He says that Sloth might be actively hiding."

"Actively hiding?" Raven murmurs.

"Sure, why not?" Happy shrugs. "I mean, normally he doesn't have an issue with others finding him. That way he can get them to do things for him. If he's acting out of character than he might hide from us so that we can't help him."

"That's... Really strange." Raven says bluntly. "So what do you expect us to do then?"

"Use your powers maybe?" Joy suggests sarcastically. "You are an empath right?"

"So are you." Raven mutters.

"You're stronger."

"You're plenty strong yourself."

"I'll carry Knowledge."

"Let me see if I can't find Sloth."

The others laugh as Raven hands off Knowledge to Joy (much to the horror of Timid, who is understandably terrified of cats) and assumes her normal meditative stance.

"Why didn't we just do this in the first place?" Brave muses, watching Raven chant under her breath.

Joy shrugs. "Rae sometimes forgets she can do it at all. She was taught to hold back her emotions and such, so mind-locating was off-limits due to the possible influxes of emotion it can induce."

"You sounded like Knowledge for a moment." Happy notes, glancing over at his counterpart.

"Nah, all of Rae's emoticlones are this smart. We just don't show it often." Joy shrugs. "No need to really. Knowledge does enough boring explanations for all eight of us. I probably just sound smart to you 'cause Raven knows more than BB."

"Really now?" Happy says, giving a lopsided grin. "Wanna bet?"

"Is that a challenge I hear?" Joy giggles.

"I hereby challenge you to a smartness contest!" Happy proclaims, pointing a finger at his counterpart.

"This really isn't the best-" Brave starts before being silence by a glare from both Happy and Joy.

"I accept your challenge!" The pink clad girl shouts.

Knowledge shakes his head and hops off Happy's shoulder to land on Brave's. The two emoticlones share a resigned look before standing back and watching the show.

"What is the square route of twenty five?" Happy asks.

"Easy, five." Joy laughs. "How much does a ton of bricks weigh?"

"Err..." Happy scratches his head. "Oh! A ton!" He gives Joy an annoyed look. "No fair, that was a trick question!"

"I was testing your smartness." The pink girl teases. "Next question."

"Where is the ocean deepest?" Happy asks, grinning. " _Two can play at that game!_ "

"The bottom." Joy says immediately.

"What?!" Happy shouts, disbelieving. "You figured it out so fast!"

"It wasn't hard." Joy snickers.

"No way! You totally cheated." Happy accuses, pointing a finger at her. "Timid told you answer didn't he?"

"Squeak?" Timid says curiously. He pokes his head out of Joy's hood upon hearing his name.

"Nooope!" The pink girl cries, throwing her hands into the air and twirling around before leaning back and reclining in mid air. "I'm just that good!"

"I don't believe you!" Happy pouts. "Cheater!"

"Uh huh."

"Don't make me come over there young lady!" Happy says, a mock serious expression on his face. "Lying isn't allowed in this household."

"Please." Joy says cockily while rolling her eyes. "You can't get within ten meters of me if I don't want you to."

"I'm liking her more and more." Brave chuckles, watching the pink girl taunt her counterpart. "She's reminding me of, well, me."

"Oh joy, another bull-headed idiot who thinks with his fists." Raven says sarcastically, coming out of her trance. "I always knew Joy was odd, but I didn't ever think she was secretly you in disguise."

"You better watch out." Joy calls out, waggling a finger at Raven. "I just won a smartness contest!"

"Oh no. Better retreat to my nuclear bunker." The empath mutters, rolling her eyes. "Joy won a contest based on intelligence, the world is ending."

The pink girl sticks out her tongue. Happy takes this opportunity to try and prove her earlier statement wrong, and leaps off Brave's back towards her.

Joy doesn't even use much of her powers. She just moves a meter to the side and lets Happy fall into the muck.

"Sorry." The pink girl laughs, rolling over and grinning down at her counterpart. "You can look, but no touchies~"

"Hilarious." Happy says dryly, wiping himself off as he climbs back onto Beast's back. "I didn't see you dropping Timid or Knowledge into the swamp..." He mutters.

"Happy, just stop." Brave chuckles. "It won't end well. Quit while you're only a few thousand meters behind."

"Fine..." He huffs. His eyes regain some of their sparkle as he says "Well-played by the way. Though for the record I did get within ten meters."

"If you're all quite done." Raven says, clearing her throat and focusing everyone's attention on her. "I believe I've found Sloth."

"Where?"

"Meow?"

"Graww?"

"Squeak?"

"He's right here." Raven says. Making a large hand out of dark magic, the dark girl plunges it into the swamp water. She roots around for a few seconds before pulling up an annoyed brown version of Beast Boy.

"Cheater..." Sloth growls, crossing his arms as he dangles by the back of his shirt.

"It passes on to her clones too." Happy says sympathetically, earning him an amused look from Joy.

"How on earth do you breath under the water?" Brave asks. "Your transformation is a sloth, right?"

"I didn't." Sloth mutters, still glaring at Raven. "I just held my breath."

"For how long?" Joy asks curiously.

"Only ten minutes." The brown boy huffs. He raises an eyebrow at everyone's stunned expressions. "What? I've had practice."

"You seriously need a hobby." Happy says bluntly.

"Maybe I could participate in smartness contests." Sloth shoots back crossly.

"Low blow." The pink boy growls, crossing his arms and matching Sloth's glare.

"Actually, it would be best if Sloth didn't get a hobby." Brave interrupts. Knowledge mews his agreement. "He's supposed to be lazy, remember?"

"But I had an epiphany!" The brown boy protests. "I can't afford to do nothing! At least I can learn to hold my breath!"

"No, screw your epiphany." Raven hisses. "Your job is to be lazy, so do it! You're just being stubborn for the sake of it!"

"Because epiphany!" Sloth protests.

"No, not "because epiphany", because Mad Mod!"

Sloth pauses. "He used the hypno-screens again, didn't he?"

"Not exactly." Raven says, calming down. "He used something more powerful."

The brown boy considers this for a moment before sighing. "Okay... I'll ignore my epiphany..."

The empath smiles a bit. "Good, now-"

"But you have to take me back to my lair."

Raven glares.

"What? You told me to be lazy."

"He's right Rae." Joy giggles. "Your own fault."

The empath mutters curses under her breath. "Fine." She hisses eventually. "Where is your damn lair?"

"Two kilometers in that direction." Sloth says, vaguely waving a hand to the left of his current position.

"Enjoy your trip then."

"Thank you, I- Wait, what?"

Raven promptly draws back the dark hand before launching it forward at high speed, Sloth still hanging by the back of his uniform from its fingers. His yells can only be heard for a few seconds before he becomes too far away.

"Thank you for riding the Raven express. Please, don't feel the need to come back." Joy says, mimicking an airline pilot.

"Only one more to go, only one more to go." Raven chants to herself, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Only Affection, only Affection." She pauses, considering what she just said. "Only... Affection?" She groans loudly, dropping her face into her hands. "Only _Affection_..."

"Don't worry Rae, he can't be as crazy as yours, right?" Joy chirps, turning to look at Beast Boy's other emoticlones for reassurance.

They all avoid eye contact, squirming uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Oh... He's that bad." Joy murmurs. Her face suddenly lights up in a grin. "Well, better you than me! Let's go!"

The pink girl promptly grabs Raven by the arm and starts dragging her out of the marsh. This looks quite odd, considering they are both levitating and Raven is trying to dig her feet into thin air.

Everyone else quickly follows, eager to see how this will turn out. Only Timid offers Raven a sympathetic look from Joy's shoulder.

" _Why did I put myself up to this?_ " Raven sighs, hanging her head.

* * *

 **Chapter 7 complete. Smartness contests. Apparently good grammer is not included in being smart.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

The child hums happily as he dashes around, arms out to the side as if he is an airplane. He runs circles around Brave, who is trying her hardest to figure out exactly what's wrong with him.

Emotion is absolutely no help, he just sits in the corner, alternatively weeping, laughing, or muttering to himself.

Now that it occurs to her, couldn't there be something wrong with Emotion and she would never know the difference?

The green-cloaked girl groans in annoyance, massaging the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

" _I'll worry about that later._ " The girl decides. " _One thing at a time Brave, one thing at a time._ "

Kneeling down, Brave stops Affection's running with a firm grab on his shoulder. The boy in pink jerks to a halt and stares up at the green girl.

"Affection." The girl says sternly, looking him in the eye. "Tell me everything you remember since this morning."

"Okay..." The boy mutters. He sits down abruptly, face scrunched up as he tries to remember the events of the morning. "Let's see... Shadow woke up, took a shower, had breakfast..." He trails off for a moment, prompting Brave to clear her throat and motion for him to continue. "His computer informed him of supervillain activity; Mad Mod had stormed the border with some of his weird soldiers and was heading for Blacksoak. Then Shadow got a call from that nasty green changeling saying that they need-"

"Hold up!" Brave shouts, waving her hands in the air. "Did you just say "nasty green changeling"? Are you talking about BB?"

"Yeah." Affection huffs, crossing his arms. "The jerk that dragged Shadow on a tofu adventure a year ago."

"If I recall correctly, it was _Shadow's_ choice to help him." The green girl counters, eyes narrowing. "BB and Shadow have recounted this several times..."

"I..." Affection's brows furrow and he shakes his head violently. "Wait, what!? How do I not remember that? It sounds familiar..."

"Shadow wanted to help." Brave prompts, hoping to spark him memory. " _This must be what's wrong with him!_ "

"He did." The pink boy murmurs, massaging his forehead. "But he doesn't like Beast Boy."

"Bull shit." The green girl says bluntly. "Those two are brothers, literally. He adopted Shadow into his family only a month ago, why do you think both of their last names are Logan?"

"I remember..." Affection whispers, eyes widening. "I remember, I remember, I REMEMBER!" He leapt to his feet and launchs him tiny frame at Brave, wrapping his arms around her waist in a hug. "Thank you Brave! I remember~!"

"Good for you." The green girl grunts, trying to pry him off with little success. "Now let go. I wanna get out of here..."

###

"Let's make this quick." Raven mutters, looking out into a clearing with a wary expression.

"You sure that you don't want me to do this?" Joy asks, concerned. "I'm more than fine with-"

"I'm fine!" Raven snaps. She takes a deep breath and strides out into the clearing towards the purple-skinned boy sitting in the center.

"Gee, someone needs a chill pill." Rude snorts, watching her approach Affection.

"I think she just feels Joy would take too long." Knowledge murmurs, leaning back against a tree.

"I would not!" The pink girl protests.

"Uh huh." Brave snorts. "Sure, we'll go with that."

"Shh!" Happy shushes. "They're talking!"

All emoticlones present peek out from the treeline, straining to hear the conversation between Raven and the pink boy.

"Raven." Affection says curtly, not moving from his meditative position. His eyes remain firmly shut and mouth barely moves, the only indication that he's waiting for a response is the twitching of his ears.

"Affection." Raven responds, sounding uncertain.

"Why are you here?" The pink boy whispers.

"I need to turn you back to normal in order to wake Beast Boy." The empath replies, her voice regaining some of its normal firmness.

"Why would you want that?" Affection asks, opening one eye and turning his head to regard the cloaked girl lazily.

"He's my teammate."

"One that annoys you constantly if memory serves."

"A teammate- No, a _friend_ none the less."

"A friend you say..." Affection muses. Opening his other eye, he tilts his head up to the sky. "I suppose that's all he is to you. Never more."

"What are you implying?" Raven growls, eyes flashing dangerously. "Are you saying I don't care about him?"

"Not quite." The purple boy sighs. "But... Ahh, damn it all. You're too young."

"Come again?" The empath says, quite confused.

"Don't concern yourself with what I have said." Affection chuckles, rising to his feet. "I just realized something, that's all."

"And this "something" has to do with me and Beast Boy?" Raven inquires, crossing her arms. "I would like to know."

The purple boy shakes his head. "You are too childish."

"I'm more mature than Beast Boy." The empath points out.

"In some ways." Affection murmurs, shaking his head. "But not in the way we wait for."

"Quit speaking so vaguely." Raven snarls. "Give me a strait answer."

"I'm saying that emotions are still too confusing for you." The boy explains softly. "Beast Boy is fully aware of what his mean; you, on the other hand, are still learning them, they are all terrifying for you."

"Emotions don't scare me." The empath scoffs.

"Perhaps terrify was a poor choice of words." Affection muses, stoking his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose I mean to say that they are still new to you, and you don't seem to understand all their implications."

"I understand just fine." Raven huffs.

"So you say." The boy whispers, too softly to be heard. Out loud he says "I believe I have been... Cured, so to speak."

"You mean that you're back to normal?!" The empath asks, surprised.

"You reminded me of why I am so neglected." Affection whispers, offering her a pained smile. "I will wait, as will Beast Boy."

"Wha-"

"Another day." The purple boy interrupts. "It is time for you to leave." He looks over to some bushes at the edge of the treeline. "You too Joy."

"How do you know my name?!" Joy shouts, popping out of the bush.

"You are all much louder than you think." Affection says by way of explanation, raising his voice so the others can hear. "Keep your gossip until _after_ you finish eavesdropping. It's much more effective."

The other emoticlones emerge from the bush, some sheepish and some uncaring. Brave strides right up to Affection, looks him up and down, and promptly growls "You sure as hell ain't back to normal."

"I am too." Affection replies calmly.

"Nuh-uh!" Happy exclaims, butting into the conversation. "The Affection I know wouldn't stop gushing about how pretty and amazing Rav-"

The purple boy promptly slaps a hand over Happy's mouth. He leans down and whispers into the boy's ear "I would be gushing right now, but I don't want to embarrass myself in front of _her_ , now do I?"

Happy nods in understanding, and Affection removes his hand from over the boy's mouth.

"Now if everyone is back to normal, we should escort Raven and Joy out." Affection announces, looking at each of his duplicates in turn.

Almost boy gives a nod, indicating they are fine, only Beast does not, he fell asleep during the conversation.

"Rage?" Affection inquires, poking at the dormant behemoth. "Are you not normal?"

The creature hisses in tired irritation, swatting an arm lazily in Affection's direction.

"Yep, he's normal." The purple boy chuckles. "I presume Sloth is fine?"

Several nods.

"Alright, follow me please." He says loudly, prompting another hiss front Beast as the rest of the group marches behind Affection.

###

"Why did you guys act as if Affection was completely horrible?" Joy whispers to Timid, who is still hanging around inside her hood as a mouse.

The group moves through the forest at a brisk pace. The trees are thickening, similar to what the forest was like when Raven entered this mindscape.

" _He's normally much more... Perverse._ " The grey boy communicates mentally, making use of Joy's telepathy. He shifts his position when the pink girl leaps over a log, bouncing his slightly. " _I think he was holding out for your and Raven's benefit. That and he wasn't really normal until the end._ "

"Huh. Our Affection has no problem showing her "interest" when BB comes for a visit."

" _If by "visit" you mean he needs to hide from the HIVE five or something..._ "

Silence is had between the two for a moment as the group navigates a particularly annoying group of rocks that jut out of the ground in the surrounding area.

" _Joy?_ "

"Yes?"

" _What happens after this? To me and the others I mean. Beast Boy doesn't have a magic mirror or anything, does that mean this is the only time we're ever going to see you guys for real? Are we stuck here forever?_ "

Joy's normally bright expression turns sad. "I guess so. I mean, me and Raven's other clones are lucky, we get visitors from time to time, but..." She shakes her head. "We're not real, right? Just part of someone's mind? What right do we have to complain? We should just be happy for whatever we get."

Joy's eyes gain a faraway look as she fingers a small pink ring on her finger. A gift from Beast Boy to each of Raven's emoticlones when last Christmas took place.

"We can feel more than what our names imply, our hosts aren't always affected by what we do... Are we actually part of someone's mind, or are we something more..?"

Nothing more is spoken between the two until the exit is reached. Raven steps trough without a second thought, more than happy to escape the icky jungle. Timid hops off Joy's shoulder and returns to human form.

The two share a silent look. The Beast Boy's other emoticlones exchange knowing, if somber glances. Even Rude doesn't make a comment.

Joy takes a step forward, pulling Timid into a brief hug before stepping out of Beast Boy's mindscape.

The six emoticlones left in the jungle sigh as the portal closes, sealing them in the realm of undergrowth and trees.

* * *

 **Chapter 8 complete. This turned out much different than I was expected. The little bit with how Emoticlones may or may not be their own people was entirely unplanned, but I liked it so I kept it. I might actually make it so that emoticlones are actually living beings instead of just mental representations. Probably something with parallel dimensions and such. Also, Affection ended up being much less of a nutcase that I intended, he was more like Knowledge than anything.**

 **Oh, BTW, existential crisis much? And I apparently ship Raven's Joy and Beast Boy's Timid. What the hell is wrong with me?!**

 **I got Shadow out of the way so that I don't bore you all with his mind later. He's here too in case you didn't know.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans. Enter Beast Boy and Shadow.**

* * *

"Well, this seems familiar." A raspy, male voice says in a flat tone, breaking into the shapeshifter's sleep-riddled brain.

The green boy groans, waving a hand in the direction of the noise in an attempt to quiet it.

"Of course, we're on a floating rock instead of being at my house." The voice continues, nary an emotion being expressed in his speech. "You should probably wake up. I have no idea where we are."

Muttering in annoyance, the changeling turns around, facing away from the voice's owner.

"Wake up Big Brother."

With a resigned sigh, Beast Boy opens his eyes and turns around, staring into the strange black irises and red pupils of his adopted younger brother.

"Hey Shadow..." He yawns. Stretching, the green boy glances around at his surrounding. "Dude... Why are we in Rae's mind?"

"This is Raven's mind?" The pale boy asks, tilting his head to look up at the black sky. "Interesting." Curiosity is put into his voice, though his expression only reflects this a few seconds after, almost like a delayed reaction.

" _Funny how I never noticed that before._ " Beast Boy thought to himself, " _Or maybe it's just this once._ "

"There y'are!" A voice calls out, taking the attention of the two boys. "Oh, BB." Brave says, surprised, as she runs up to the brothers. "You're here too? Guess Rae musta finished up in your mind."

"My mind?!" The green boy asks, mouth open in shock. "She's in my _mind_?!"

"Yeah." Brave says, unconcerned. "It's not like you haven't waltzed around in her's a couple times."

"Err, fair enough." Beast Boy coughed.

"Incidentally, I just finished fixing Shadow's mind. Why the hell do you only have two emoticlones?" She stares at the pale boy accusingly.

The hero of Blacksoak shrugs. "I don't really feel emotions at all."

"Like Rae?" The changeling asks, cocking his head.

"No." The pale boy says, proceeding to explain. "Rae feels emotions just fine, she just has to hold them back. I just don't feel them at all for them most part, but I copy them as best I can."

"Soo... You're saying that every time you smile or frown it's actually just you pretending to be happy and sad?" Beast Boy says weakly.

"Pretty much." Shadow affirms nonchalantly.

"So you've never felt anything ever?" The changeling asks desperately, not wanting to believe it.

"I have." The pale boy says. "Before I was taken by the Meta I was perfectly capable of emotion. That's how I know what to act like. Now it just takes significantly more stimulus to affect me. Like when you officially adopted me, I was genuinely happy for the first time in four years."

"Oh..." Beast Boy blinks, trying to decide how to react. "Well, that still sucks."

"I don't care." Shadow shrugs. "Technically, I can't. Either way, I'm used to it."

"Right..."

The three get their attention drawn by two cloaked figures marching out of a strange forest off to their left which immediately disappears when the two get halfway down the path.

"Beast Boy!" One of the figures, easily visible as Joy (though Beast Boy would still know her as Happy), charges down the pathway and tackles the green boy in a hug. "You're back~!"

Raven, who approaches significantly slower than Joy, is surprised to see Shadow standing nearby, watching with a blank expression.

"Shadow?" She says, attracting his attention. "How did you get cured?"

The pale boy points at Brave.

"Brave!" Raven yells, turning on the green emoticlone. "First Joy wasn't listening, now you?"

"I wasn't really given a choice." The girl grumbles. "This skeletal guy calling himself "Emotion" dragged me into the door with the orange M on it."

"I have a skeleton in my head?" Shadow smiles. Beast Boy notices the delay between his tone and expression once again."Cool."

" _Guess I'm gonna need to get used to that..._ " He thinks, sighing. " _But how will I know when he's not faking? That is, if he's ever not faking."_

"You also have a one month old kid running around in a pink cloak." Brave huffs. "Your mind is messed up."

"Yeah, I figured as much." The pale boy says.

"This is all very interesting." Raven deadpans. "But the readers will be getting bored by now, so we should move on."

"Yeah. Probably a good idea." Beast Boy agrees. "So... What are we doing here exactly?"

"Mad Mod managed to knock you all out by messing with your minds." The empath explains in an impatient tone. "We need to head into their minds and fix up their emoticlones."

"Alright!" Beast Boy shouted. "Now I can figure out why Robin needs so much hair gel!"

"Priorities Big brother." Shadow mumbles. "Priorities please."

"Fine..." The green boy huffs. "So where do we go? The elevator, the creepy cave, the sparkly door, or the arch?"

"The arch is my mind. So only Joy and Brave need to go there" Raven says pointedly, glaring at the two emoticlones.

"Aww, c'mon Rae!" Joy whines. "I helped! I still can!"

"I got Shadow cured all by myself!" Brave huffs, annoyed. "Why do I have to leave?"

"You aren't needed anymore." The empath says bluntly. "Now go."

"Fine..." Joy sighs, she trudges back to the arch.

"Jerk..." Brave mutters, following her fellow emoticlone.

" _Why is my own mind always against me?_ " Raven sighs.

"Soo..." Beast Boy muses, staring at their three options. "Sparkly, creepy, or bland?"

"Let's go with the cave." Shadow says, shrugging. "It's just as good as any other option."

"Yes, let's." Raven growls, grabbing the green boy by the arm and dragging him towards the cave. Shadow trails along behind. "I want to get this over with."

###

"Well... This isn't weird." Beast Boy mutters sarcastically, eyeing the large cloud of bats swirling in front of them.

The trio had only been walking for about a minute inside the cave before they were confronted by _this_. A living tornado of leather wings and high-pitch squeaking.

"Bats on the brain, in more ways than one..." Shadow says, watching the furry rodents with a lack of concern. "I don't see why we've stopped. It's not like this is hard to get through."

"We've stopped because I can sense something in the middle of the bats," Raven says, a hint of warning in her voice. "and it doesn't like us at all."

"Why wouldn't it like me?" Beast Boy asks, feigning shock. "I'm the comic relief, everyone loves me!"

"I believe being comic relief requires you to make people laugh, and if memory serves you have never succeeded in making myself nor Raven even chuckle." Shadow says bluntly.

"Ouch." Beast Boy says, clutching his heart comically. "Harsh."

"Not really, I am talking about someone who holds in their emotions, and someone who basically lacks them altogether." The pale boy points out.

"Hilarious, maybe you should take my place as funny guy." The green boy mutters dryly.

"Maybe we should focus on finding out what is at the middle of the bats." Raven interrupts.

"You've got magic, just move the bats." Shadow shrugs.

"Waiting for you two to be ready." The empath huffs. Raising her hands, the half-demon mutters her mantra. The bats glow with dark energy and are thrown backwards revealing the figure inside.

"Is that... Batman?" Beast Boy gasps, disbelieving.

The figure is very similar to batman, having the same costume consisting of thin, but durable body armor, a black cape that stretches down to his heels with an attached mask to cover the face, and his famous utility belt.

The differences are minor, but important.

The oddities immediately apparent are the glowing yellow eyes that ooze a hazy mist, and chalk white skin, similar to Shadow. The other differences are noticeable when it lunges, screeching, at the empath with claws extended and fangs bared.

"That is NOT Batman!" Beast Boy shrieks. He shoves Raven aside, causing the Batman impostor to miss. It rolls on the floor, minimizing the impact caused by the missed lunge. It quickly sweeps with its legs, knocking Shadow to the floor when he tries to grab the vampire.

Not having any of it, the hero of Blacksoak kicks out with a foot as the vampire ties to rise, knocking it to the floor again. Shadow then flips over, still prone, and pushes off with his feet, propelling him into the vampire. He snaps his arms around the Batman impostor, preventing it from moving.

"Nice going Little Bro." Beast Boy huffs, helping Raven to her feet. The two Titans stand over the struggling vampire which can't seem to escape thanks to Shadow's chemically enhanced strength.

"Not a problem." The hero of Blacksoak shrugs, sounding almost bored. He gets to his feet, still holding the vampire. "So, what do we do with him?"

"I guess we cure him?" The changeling says, sounding uncertain. "He is an emoticlone, right?"

"He could be a monster." Raven points out. "I have several in my mind. Brave normally keeps them at bay."

"Hold, that man is no monster!" A voice calls out from further in the cave. A Robin with an orange cape dashes up to them. He stops to catch his breath for a moment before straightening. "Hello there, I thank you for catching my friend. We've been feeling a bit... Off, since we lost against Mod."

"So you already know what's wrong?" Raven inquires.

"Indeed."

"That makes things quicker." The empath sighs in relief. "So, who are you and who is he?"

"And why are you talking like some old medieval knight?" Beast Boy adds, only to receive a glare from Raven.

"I, am Sloth." The boy says proudly, thumping his chest. "I took it upon myself to hunt my friend Knowledge when he went out of control."

"This is Knowledge?" Shadow asks, glancing at the vampire still struggling in his grip. "I have a feeling that shouldn't be very reassuring."

"Well normally he's a lot less... Hungry, then this." The boy says sheepishly.

"Shocking." Beast Boy mutters snarkily. "Robin's mind guy of intelligence and curiosity isn't normally trying to eat people. My mind is blown."

"Please don't do sarcasm." Raven groaned. "You just don't do it well."

"Agreed." Sloth says with a nod.

Beast Boy scowls and falls silent.

"So." Shadow grunts, kicking Knowledge in the shin when he tries to bit the hero's hand. "What exactly is wrong with you two?"

"I'm actually being active." Sloth says, pretending to be appalled by his own statement. "And Knowledge is hungry."

"The second one is easily solved." Shadow mutters. Rather than denying the vampire again, he allows the Batman impostor to bite his hand and drink his blood.

Knowledgeable hisses of delight stop abruptly when he gets a proper taste of what he just drank. The vampire starts hacking and spitting, trying to get rid of the vile substance and the horrible taste.

"Couple hundred different chemicals in my blood." Shadow says offhandedly, releasing the Batman impostor. "Not tasty I imagine."

"Well, that's one way to do it." Sloth mutters, eyeing his fellow emoticlone who is frantically pawing at his tongue. "Hopefully I don't have to go through that..."

"Well I don't think biting people is one of your pastimes. So it shouldn't be an issue." Shadow shrugs.

"Actually, since you already know there's something wrong with you, you should be cured already." Raven points out. "Just choose to be lazy again."

"Yeah. I guess." Sloth mutters, shoulders slumping. "Guess it was nice to be active while it lasted."

" _This is great!_ " Raven thinks to herself, hiding a smile. " _Robin is already trained to combat mental attacks and such, so some of his emoticlones should already know that there is something wrong and might just cure themselves._ "

"That. Was. Revolting." Knowledge hisses, grimacing. "Thank you for helping though. I would not have guessed my superior intellect could be overpowered so easily."

"Humble." Beast Boy chuckles.

"Sounds like you when you're talking about your skill at video games." Shadow says casually. "Except I bet he can actually back up his claims."

"You've been talking with Cyborg, haven't you?" The green boy grumbles.

"No." The pale boy hums. "But he has sent me recordings of your numerous defeats."

"I hate him so much right now..."

"Focus!" Raven snaps, clearly irritated. "We should move on."

"I will lead." Knowledge says in a tone that brokers no argument. "Try to restrain yourself from wandering off." The Batman impostor walks off haughtily, leaving the other four teens behind.

"He always like this?" Beast Boy asks, glancing at Sloth.

"Nope. You should see him when Robyn talks with Starfire. He can barely form a coherent thought." Sloth chuckles. "Oh, and someone carry me. You want me to be lazy, right?"

Not complaining, Shadow tosses the emoticlone over his shoulder and strides off after Knowledge.

"This is gonna be soo much less fun that your mind." The changeling sighs, following his brother.

Raven glares at the green boy. "My mind is not "fun", it is not a playground."

"Yeah, it's much better than any playground I've ever been to."

"You know what I mean."

"Of course I do, but I love visiting your clone thingies."

"For the last time, they aren't actually people!" The empath groans. "They're just mental representations!"

"Really?" Beast Boy asks, sounding skeptical. "I dunno Rae, they aren't just restricted to their own emotion..."

"I am not having this talk with someone who can't tie his own shoe." Raven grumbles, storming ahead.

"Hey! I manage just fine! It only took a few minutes!" The green boy whines, stumbling after her and into the depths of the cave.

* * *

 **Chapter 9 complete. Beast Boy and Shadow will be around now, yay. Hopefully I can avoid focusing too much on the OC (as I did near the start of this chapter... My bad -_-). I dunno what prompted me to make Knowledge into vampire Batman, or to make Sloth talk like a knight. It just sorta happened.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans. You know you're writing too much gender-bender when spellcheck is correcting Robin to Robyn.**

* * *

"Don't touch that."

...

"Or that."

...

"Not _anything_."

"Fine..." Beast Boy groans, moving his hand away from the control panel. "But it was calling to me."

"The same way you're "called" to annoy me on a daily basis I'm sure." Raven growls, shooting him a glare.

"Enough." Knowledge snaps. "I'm trying to find the others."

"Using a giant t.v. screen?" Shadow questions.

"It's hooked up to security cameras all over Robin's mind." The Batman impostor huffs. "I can see everything from here."

"Not creepy at all." Sloth says sarcastically, leaning against the screen and rolling his eyes. "Totally not a stalker."

The three Titans and two emoticlones are sitting or standing in front of a massive computer in the center of a large cavern. Dark shapes, bats presumably, flutter above them, occasionally covering one of the overhanging lights. Most of the cave is darkened, though outlines of rock formations and other objects are just barely visible.

"A giant coin, a giant playing card, a giant penguin... You have an interesting taste in decoration." Shadow says offhandedly, looking around into the darkness.

Knowledge glances back at the deathly pale hero. "You have night-vision?"

"Yeah. Amazing what chemicals can do for your eyes, eh?" Shadow says cheerily.

Beast Boy gives him a questioning look, and his little brother responds with a meaningful glance.

" _No one needs to know._ " It seems to say. " _It's best if they think I can feel just like they can._ "

The green boy nods and returns to scanning the buttons.

"Interesting... Just how many chemicals were used? Which kinds?" Knowledge asks, turning to stare at the hero of Blacksoak.

"Dunno. I was busy being unconscious. Or maybe I was screaming in pain, I can't remember exactly." He gives a shrug. "Depends whether my nerve endings still worked or not, they stopped after a year or so."

"Really?" The Batman impostor hums. He gets up and walks around the boy, tapping his chin and peering intently. "I should get a scan... Adrenaline powered strength and speed, correct? I've also heard of your regenerative powers; you'd be surprised what the newspapers can figure out. What chemical combinations trigger these abilities? What unnecessary ones could be removed? Think of what we could learn from you..."

"Knowledge." Sloth says warningly. "You're going creepy scientist again."

"Wha-? Ah, yes. My pardon." Knowledge says, massaging the bridge of his nose. "A bad habit of mine." He stalks back to the chair and sits down again, tapping away at the massive keyboard.

"And I thought Robin was creepy enough when he was super focused." Beast Boy whispers to Raven, shivering.

"That was a bit... Disturbing." The empath agrees.

"You get used to it." Sloth sighs. "We keep him in check. Honestly, even Rage is less trouble."

"You do realize that I can hear you, yes?" Knowledge says sharply.

"Yep." The orange caped boy grins.

"Rude..." The Batman impostor huffs.

"No. Sloth." Sloth says in a snarky tone. "You're loosing your touch Knowledge."

"I'm sure..." Knowledge sighs. "If you're interested, I've found Brave." He points down one of the many exits leading from the cave. "He's that way."

"Good." Raven says, shoving Beast Boy along. "Let's go. Quickly. Now!"

"I'll come too." Sloth offers, trying to follow.

"No." Shadow says, stepping in to block the orange emoticlone. "You need to be lazy. So do your job."

"Fine..." Sloth sighs, shoulders slumping. "I guess someone needs to keep an eye on Knowledge anyways."

"Good man." The hero of Blacksoak says, clapping the clone on his shoulder before striding off after his brother and the half-demon.

###

"Hey Rae? I just thought of something." Beast Boy says, walking at the empath's side.

"Miracles do happen." She responds dryly.

"Ha ha." He frowns. "It's just that Rob's version of Sloth is orange, but yours is brown."

"So is yours." Raven says, nodding her head. "Emoticlones generally have a default color for whatever emotion they represent. It's all part of the emotional spectrum. But if the individual strongly associates a certain emotion with a certain color, then the emoticlone will also prefer that color."

"So Robin relates being lazy to the color orange?" The changeling asks, scratching his head. "Why's that?"

"Think reeeeal hard Big Brother." Shadow hums. "You mention it whenever we speak about Robin."

Beast Boy is silent for a minute as he tries to figure out just what the association is. Suddenly, it hits him.

The changeling snaps his fingers. "Starfire!" He cries.

"Gee, that was hard." Raven deadpans. "It's not like she's the only one who can convince him to stop working or anything."

"Hey! I'm not a mind-reader!" Beast Boy protests.

"Neither am I." Shadow points out. "But I still figured it out, and I don't even live with him."

"Shut up..." The green shapeshifter mutters, crossing his arms and pouting.

###

"Go away!" The dark figure moans, leaping up to another ledge.

"Dude, stop running!" Beast Boy complains, jumping up after him.

"This is ridiculous." Raven groans. She flutters higher and tries to block the figures next leap with a wall of black energy.

"How does this guy relate to Robin in anyway?" Shadow questions. He smashes a fist into the surrounding rock to create another handheld as he climbs his way up to the figure.

"Nightwing." Beast Boy grunts as the figure uses his head as a springboard to clear Raven's wall. The green boy shifts temporarily to a raven and lands of the nearest outcrop. "According to Star; it was who he became in the future when all the Titans broke apart. Though Robin just claims it's a costume idea he's been considering to show he's broken away from ol' batty."

"Whatever it is, he's quite a slippery fellow." The hero of Blacksoak says, pushing off the wall and swiping at the Nightwing. He misses by a centimeter and goes crashing to the ground. "Like an eel, but larger and more easily frightened."

"Brave my foot." Raven growls, eyes flashing as she binds the figure in bands of dark energy. "He's been doing nothing but running for the last five minutes."

"Away! Go away!" Nightwing cries, his hand twists around and drops a pellet on the floor, creating a cloud of smoke. A small explosion follows, and when the smoke clears Nightwing, or Brave if you prefer, is nowhere to be seen.

"Not again!" Beast Boy groans, looking around the room. "Where now?"

"Can't see 'im." Shadow grunts, picking himself up. "He must have gone to another cavern, eh?"

"Guess so." The changeling sighs. "Rae?"

"I sense him." The empath affirms. "Back the way we came."

"Damnit..." Beast Boy groans. "There has to be a better way to get him to chill."

"Rather than chasing him around? Probably." Raven snorts. "But I'm not exactly sure what, so we'll keep doing this 'till something else comes to mind."

"Polite conversation didn't work, so we go straight to tackling him." Shadow muses. "Truly, we are masters of diplomacy."

"Can it." The half-demon mutters. "We're trying here."

"I'm just saying we suck at this." The hero of Blacksoak shrugs.

"Yeah." Beast Boy sighs, sitting down on a rock. "I wish Cy was here. He always has an idea. Heck, Star would be even better. I bet Brave wouldn't run from her."

"We are literally the worst people to be doing this." Raven agrees reluctantly. "We should have helped Cy first."

"Not the best time to be turning back." Shadow muses. "We're committed now."

"I'm not saying we should go back." The empath scoffs. "I'm just saying we need to look at this like Cy would."

"Big Brother would know him better than me." The hero of Blacksoak nods at the green boy. "They are best friends after all."

"You bet we are!" Beast Boy affirms. "So what would Cy do...?"

The green boy's face suddenly goes blank before spreading into an amused grin.

"You guys are doing it all wrong!" He huffs, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms. He shakes his head in mock disappointment. "You can't catch _any_ version of Rob unless they let you, or make a huge mistake."

The two pale Titans share a confused look.

"He might be a nut-case, but this is still Rob we're talking about!" Beast Boy scolds. The changeling swiftly changes position, adopting his normal persona. "But dude, he wasn't listening to us when we tried to talk!" He changes positions again. "You and Rae were yelling at him to stop being a coward; you coulda just tried explaining calmly, only Shadow even attempted it!" Another position change. "Well, uh, we didn't think-" Position change. "Of course ya didn't! You I'm not surprised with, but I would have expected Rae to be calm about all this." The changeling turns his head to stare pointedly at Raven.

"Well, _Cy_ ," The half-demon says sarcastically. "I've been trekking through a jungle with annoying elf clones for the last few hours. Pardon me if I'm not thinking clearly."

"Yeah. Too much BB can get to a guy." 'Cyborg' says sympathetically. "Hey!" Beast Boy protests.

"Uh, Big Brother?" Shadow pipes up in an amused voice. "Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity."

"Yeah, yeah." The green boy chuckles. "But I did a good impression of Cy, don't ya think?"

"Scarily so." Raven affirms. "Never do that again."

"Agreed." Shadow says.

"Okay, okay!" The shapeshifter laughs, holding up his hands in surrender. "At least I pointed out our problem."

"Couldn't you have done that normally instead of doing the entire imitation act?" The empath says, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Beast Boy chuckles.

"This is about saving our friends, not having fun." Raven growls.

"Yeah yeah. I know..." The shapeshifter mutters. "Geeze, would it kill ya to lighten up?"

"I'm half-demon, and I use dark magic. Lightening up really isn't my thing." The empath deadpans. She turns and strides towards the cavern entrance. "Let's just go talk to Brave already."

"Outplayed." Shadow whispers to his brother, following the cloaked girl.

"No need to rub it in." Beast Boy growls, falling in line behind the other two Titans.

###

"Brave?" Raven calls out. "Brave, are you here?"

"C'mon dude, we just wanna talk this time!" Beast Boy yells, cupping his hands around his mouth to push the sound further. "Pleaaaase?"

"Come out." Shadow says bluntly. "I can see you."

Brave hesitates a moment, observing the three Titans from his perch in yet another darkened alcove.

"We can either talk, or have another chase. Your choice." The hero of Blacksoak offers while stretching his legs and rolling his shoulders.

The Nightwing look-alike sighs in resignation before leaping down to the floor and facing the Titans, though he does maintain a fair distance.

"Wh-What do you want?" He stutters.

"To say sorry for being so aggressive before." Beast Boy says apologetically. "And to try and convince you to return to normal."

"But everything is so scary!" Brave whimpers. "It's crazy of me to push Robin towards fighting giant monsters and evil psychopaths!"

"But if Robin won't fight, who will lead us?" Raven points out. "We're all capable heroes, but we need Robin more than we'd like to admit."

"You do?" The Nightwing look-alike asks.

"Of course we do!" Beast Boy pipes in. "Who else is going to tell me my plans are terrible?"

"Who's going to keep us going when everything seems hopeless?" Raven presses.

"Who's going to eat Starfire's food so the rest of us don't have to?"

"Who's going to solve whatever clues the villains leave us?"

"Who's going to to fix Cyborg when he's not able to?"

"Robin will." Brave murmurs. "He's the only one who can..."

"That's right." Shadow says sternly. "And Robin isn't Robin without his bravery. He needs _you_."

"He does, doesn't he?" The Nightwing look-alike says, sounding more certain. "I'm the one who tells him to get moving, to get things done." He straightens up, standing proudly. "I'm Brave damnit, I don't run, I fight!"

"That sounds more like it." Beast Boy grins. "I think we did it guys."

"I'll say." Shadow agrees. "Fired up and ready to brawl."

"I just hope it doesn't go to his head." Raven mutters. "Azar knows how much of an ego boost that was."

"To late Rae, we're already in his head." The changeling points out.

"You know what I mean." The empath growls.

"Come on Titans, we need to help the rest of my clones!" Brave yells, dashing off.

"What have we unleashed?" Raven groans as they chase after the emoticlone.

* * *

 **Chapter 10 complete.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans. Alright, I need to get this back on track, I feel like I've been slipping for the last few chapter.**

* * *

"Dude, slow down!" Beast Boy whines, staggering after the speedy Nightwing impostor. "This isn't a race!"

"Yes it is!" Brave hollers, not even looking back. "Against time!"

"Time isn't a physical entity, ergo you cannot race it." Shadow muses as he runs alongside Brave, having much more stamina than his brother.

"Details, details." The Nightwing impostor huffs, leaping over a rock in his path.

"Generally it's the details that keep you alive." The pale boy points out, smashing right through said rock. "Right Raven?"

"Indeed." The empath agrees, flying overhead and narrowly avoiding the stalactites. "We actually have a few days to help everyone. It is simply a matter of their bodies not being able to eat or drink."

"Or go to the bathroom!" Beast Boy added, shifting into a bat to fly over top of several large stalagmites.

"Thanks for that Big Brother." Shadow says sarcastically, running through another blocking spire of rock. He shook out his cloak to free it of rocks. "I'm sure we all wanted to think of that."

"We all have to at some point, or we'd just explode!" The shapeshifter chirped cheerfully.

"Thank you for that imagery." Raven grunts, blasting aside another hanging spire. "Now please stop. I want to keep my lunch thanks."

"Just saying it how it is." Beast Boy chuckles, leaping over a large boulder.

"Next time can 'it' be a little less juvenile?" The empath asks dryly, giving the green boy a flat look.

"I got one!" The changeling cries, clapping his hands once and shooting her a grin. He turns around so that he's running backward and can face the half-demon properly. "What does an obsessed Robin and a toilet have in common?"

"Big Brother..." Shadow sighs.

"They're both full of sh-"

"Annnd that's quite enough." Raven growls, clapping a band of dark energy over the green boy's mouth. His is quite obviously still laughing despite his joke being cut short.

"Only you Beast Boy. Only you." Brave sighs.

A moment later the Nightwing impostor's eyes widen and he skids to a stop. Shadow pulls up short right beside him, and the last two Titans halt just behind the two darkly clad heroes.

"Great." Shadow grunts, "a dead end."

"Better get out my holy symbol." Beast Boy says, still grinning.

"That was bad." Brave sighs. "Even for you."

"Dead does not mean undead. Basic grammar." Raven deadpans.

"Well excuse me for trying..." The shapeshifter mutters.

"So, what's the deal with this?" Shadow asks, studying the flat stone wall. "Why'd you lead us here?"

"This is the entrance to Happy's place." Knowledge explains. "He thinks we spoil his fun, so he keeps us out the best he can."

"How do you get in?" Beast Boy inquires, rapping the wall with his knuckles.

"There's a different puzzle each time." Brave grumbles. "This one must be a finding challenge. There will be a hidden switch or panel somewhere around here."

"Or," Raven says, spreading her cloak wide and enveloping all her teammates. "We can phase through."

Darkness obscures their vision for a moment, and there is a sense of momentum. A few seconds later, the darkness dissipates revealing another dark cavern.

"Phase one complete!" Beast Boy chuckles. "Get it? _Phase?_ "

"Hilarious." Raven deadpans.

"Is every room in Robin's mind a cave?" Shadow asks, glancing around.

"No... There's _one_ that's not." Brave says sheepishly.

"Geeze, I guess Rae is the only one with complete different landscapes for each clone." Beast Boy mutters. "Mine were all just in a jungle according to her."

"I don't really have an explanation for that." Raven admits, looking intrigued. "I wonder why that is."

"Maybe it's 'cause you know magic?" The changeling suggests.

"Maybe..." Raven muses, trailing off with a distant look in her eyes.

"Happy?" Brave calls out, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound. "Are you home?"

"Nothing here but a worthless feeling..." A mourning voice muttered back from the darkness.

"Where is he?" Beast Boy whispers to the searching boy.

"Don't know." Brave admits. "Can't see through all this darkness, and I can't hear properly because the sound bounces."

"I can't see him either." Shadow says quietly. "He might have some sort of smoke machine, because my sight is blocked around the outer rim of the room."

"I know he does." Brave grumbles. "I got stuck on that puzzle for hours..."

"No use standing here." Beast Boy chirps. "I'll find him."

With that, the green boy shifts into a bloodhound. He sniffs the air for a moment, gaining Happy's scent, before darting off to a corner of the room.

Loud barking fills the air and carries on for a few minutes before stopping. The silence was only temporary, however, as the sound of cursing fills the air in its place as a large green gorrila drags over a Robin with a pink cape.

Beast Boy tosses the moping emoticlone at their feet and shifts back to human form, looking down at the pink boy.

"Happy." Brave says curtly, looking down at his counterpart. "You know that your depression is Mod's fault, right?"

"Yeah." The boy moans. "But I need this..."

"You need to feel sad?!" Beast Boy is greatly surprised, his eyebrows almost seem to leap off his face and his eyes are as wide as doughnuts. He turns to Raven, "Is that some-"

"No." Raven interrupts. "He's being irrational. He's Happy, he isn't supposed to be sad."

"But I need to know!" Happy wails, tears in his eyes as he looks at them pleadingly. "I need to be sad! How else will I understand?"

"Understand what?" Raven snaps, losing her patience. "Finish the thought."

"This way I can understand sadness." The boy whispers. "I'm always happy, so how can I help Robin when he's sad if I don't know what being sad is like?"

"That's... Incredibly selfless of you." The empath says, sounding slightly awed. Knowing this was just a manifestation of Robin, she couldn't help but feel like Happy was remarkably empathic. Robin would never have considered something like that.

"But you still need you to return to how you are normally." Beast Boy points out, looking apologetic. "Robin needs whatever happiness he can get. We all know he's too paranoid to be happy for more than a few minutes."

"I wish I could say you're wrong." Brave sighs, "but that's actually pretty true."

"But-"

"No arguments." Raven growls savagely, interrupting the Robin clone. "No more moping! Be happy damnit!"

Happy sighs in resignation. He whispers something to himself, looking serious. A few seconds later a small giggle escapes his lips, followed by peals of laughter.

"Only you Raven." Beast Boy chuckles. "Only you could _command_ someone to be happy."

"Damn right." Brave smirks. "No one shall be allowed to brood but her."

"I do not brood!" The empath protests.

"You totally do." The shapeshifter teases. "You're all like: I'm Raven. I'm grumpy. Don't bother me or I'll throw you out a window." He puts on an exaggerated frowny face and crosses his arms as he says this.

"I am not like that..." Raven huffs, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"Aha!" The green boy exclaims, pointing at her with a massive smile. "You're doing it! See? SEE?"

"He's riiiight~" Happy sings, all traces of depression already gone. "You're grumpy!"

"Got ya cornered Raven." Brave chuckles, leaning back against the rock wall. "Can't deny it this time."

The empath grumbles under her breath, spreading her glare from Beast Boy to include all other members of the party save Shadow, who watched on silently.

###

Something was watching them. Beast Boy could sense it.

It set his nerves on edge, causes his hair to stick up on end, and prompts him to constantly look around, trying to locate whatever it is.

The others don't seem to notice anything amiss. Happy and Brave are conversing casually as they lead the others to find Rude.

Raven herself is in deep contemplation. She has a vacant look in her eyes, and brushes off any attempts to draw her into a conversation.

Shadow just isn't doing much of anything. He walks along behind the shapeshifter with a neutral expression. The only significant action the pale boy makes is his eyes flicking to look down any other paths they come across.

"There it is again." The pale boy whispers, staring down the most recent split in the path. Beast Boy only manages to hear his brother thanks to his sensitive ears.

"You sense it too?" The changeling asks quietly, falling in to stand next to the hero of Blacksoak.

"I can see it." Shadow replies, glancing behind them. "It doesn't enter our path, but it's following us..."

"What does it look like?" Beast Boy asks, taking deep breaths and trying to stay calm.

"I can't tell." Shadow admits. "I have night-vision, but my actual eyesight is only slightly better than human standard. Whatever it might be is too far away for me to see clearly; all I know is that it has a humanoid figure."

"That's not reassuring." The shapeshifter mutters. "Should we tell the others?"

"No need to worry them too." The pale boy says. "If we plan to split up, we'll tell them. Otherwise I don't want to worry them. Fear is the mind-killer."

"Yeah, just me and you worrying constantly about our new stalker." Beast Boy mutters. He shivers slightly as he detects the stalker moving again, the vague sound of squeaking gives it away.

"I don't feel emotions unless they are severe, remember?" Shadow reminds him. "It's just you being nervous."

"That's _soo_ much better." The green boy grumbles sarcastically. He watches warily as his little brother peers down another pathway. The sound of squeaking reaches Beast Boy's ears again as the figure moves away. "I don't want to know what sort of monsters lurk in Robin's mind..."

"With any luck, it's an emoticlone." Shadow grunts, though he nods his agreement. "But if it is a monster..."

The two share a look. Beast Boy's unease is clearly shown on his face.

"If it makes you feel better, I can go and try to chase it off." Shadow offers.

"That doesn't sound like a good idea." The green boy notes. He shakes his head. "Too dangerous. This is someone's mind, we can't risk something happening in here."

"If you say so." Shadow murmurs. "It's not like it could kill me. I regenerate you know."

"Still, I'm not going to send my little brother off to chase an unknown threat." Beast Boy says firmly.

"As you wish." He shrugs.

"Hey, you two!" Brave's voice calls from up ahead. The two brothers glance up, noticing that the other three are now several meters ahead of them. "Get your rears in gear; stop falling behind!"

"Yessir." Beast Boy salutes mockingly. He and Shadow jog up the group, settling into their position at the back once again. They continue to keep track of the stalker as it follows them, always at the end of a split in the path.

They progress this way for almost an hour. Beast Boy is constantly on edge, not able to calm down with someone watching them...

###

The figure smiles widely as it looks down the stone tunnel at the group. It chuckles madly to itself as it notices one of the cloaked figures staring back.

"Oh dear." It whispers quietly, still grinning. "Do you know I'm here? Are you nervous?"

A quiet, crazy laugh passes from its throat as it moves out of Shadow's line of sight and slinks down its own pathway.

"This is play time heroes..." The figure whispers to itself, peering around the next possible path to the party. "But some of your number won't calm down" It says, noting the hero of Blacksoak whispering with his big brother whilst still observing the figure.

The figure chuckles madly once more, stepping fully into Shadow's view, though the distance won't allow either of them to get a proper look.

"And so I ask you, hero:" It whispers, stepping out of the path and continuing its pattern.

"Why so serious?"

* * *

 **Chapter 11 complete.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans. The stalker revealed! (Though it's not like you didn't already know who he was)**

* * *

"Well well, what do we have here?" Brave hums, rubbing the material between his fingers. "Silk curtains? Rude's tastes have definitely improved."

"It doesn't smell like skunk anymore! Yaaay!" Happy cheers, twirling around as he dances about the room.

"This is all well and good, but where is Rude himself?" Shadow inquires glancing at the Nightwing look-alike who is still studying the curtains.

"Beats me. Rude isn't exactly predictable." Brave shrugs. "And with the addition of Mod's mind screw, who knows what he'll be doing?"

The group is in a small bedroom, located deep within the complex of tunnels. The inhabitant is nowhere to be seen, and his room is suspiciously well decorated, lacking vulgar posters and offensive T-shirts strewn around. An abnormality according to Brave.

"Rae, can you sense him?" Beast Boy asks, glancing behind them warily.

"No." Raven growls. "Robin's mind is too strong. It isn't letting me use my empathy."

"Well maybe-" Beast Boy starts.

Crick.

"What was that?" The changeling whispers, ears perking up.

"What was what?" Raven sighs, massaging her forehead. "We don't have time for your pranks."

"Shadow." Beast Boy mutters, waving him over. "Can you see it?"

The pale boy slinks over and peers out of the room.

"Nothing." He murmurs in response. "Out of sight."

"Seriously, what are you two doing?" Happy laughs. "You look like you're in a spy movie or something. You know, with all the dramatic peering around corners."

"It's nothing." Shadow says blankly. He turns away from the door, going to investigate a drawer in the corner of the room.

"I just thought I heard something." Beast Boy explains, trying to fake calmness. "Probably nothing."

"If you say so." The empath mutters suspiciously.

"That aside, we can't just sit here." Brave sighs, releasing the curtain. "Beast Boy, think you could sniff out Rude like you did with Happy?"

"Worth a shot." The green boy shrugs. "Here I go."

The changeling shifts into a bloodhound once more. He shakes himself before bounding over to the bed, sniffing it, and proceeding outside.

"Hopefully he can find Rude's scent." Shadow hums, watching his brother wander about, searching for a scent. "The smell of the bed should tell him what he's trying to find."

And right he was. The shapeshifter was indeed searching for the faint smell of sulfur he had detected on the bed (stink bombs was his assumption).

He did eventually find a trail, but not before smelling something else.

" _Makeup?_ " Beast Boy thought to himself, confused. He took another deep sniff just to be sure. " _I know for a fact Rae doesn't wear makeup, and Shadow wouldn't unless he was planning on going out in his civilian identity._ _So what caused this smell?_ "

Shaking it off and returning to his original objective, he managed to locate the smell of sulfur leading away from the bedroom though the back exit.

"Over here guys." The shapeshifter calls. "Got a trail."

"Lead on." Brave says, gesturing for him to continue. The green boy nods and returns to bloodhound form.

The progress was slow. The tunnels behind Rude's bedroom split off constantly, often giving upwards of five different paths at any given junction. They were often forced to backtrack when Beast Boy lost the trail.

"Why is Robin's mind a cave?" Shadow asks, following along at the rear of the group.

"Batcave." Brave says gruffly, as if that explains everything.

"Hmm... Why is Rude's bedroom located in the middle of nowhere?" The pale boy inquires.

"Dunno." The Nightwing impostor shrugs. "Heck, most of our homes are just sitting in random spots in this labyrinth of tunnels."

"And I thought Timid's maze was a depressing place." Raven mutters, glancing around at the endless series of tunnels. "How does all this stay lit anyways?"

"Hey, this is someone's _mind_." Brave smirks. "Are you really that surprised? The _lighting_ is what you're going to question?"

"I guess I was wrong about Robin being bright." The empath sighs dramatically. "Everything here is so dim..."

"You're lucky Knowledge isn't here, or he'd give you a lecture for that." Happy laughs. "Raven! How _dare_ you insinuate that Robin, and by extension myself, are not intelligent!" The cheery boy's voice is sarcastically raspy, a poor imitation of the dark knight. "You should learn to respect your leader, bla bla bla bla bla."

"Sounds like what Knowledge would say alright." Brave chuckles. "Though you need to work on your Batman voice."

"I'm Batman!" Shadow rasps, deepening his scratchy voice. He dramatically pulls his cloak in front of his face, obscuring all but his eyes. "I am the night!"

"That's perfect!" Happy cheers, clapping his hands.

"Boys." Raven sighs to herself. "It's times like these I actually wish Starfire was here being all girly."

"Careful what you wish for!" Happy warns with a giggle.

"Are you sure that you're part of Robin?" The empath mutters, shaking her head. "You are nothing like him."

"That's 'cause he rarely uses me!" The cheerful boy chirps.

"Except when around Starfire." Shadow says bluntly.

"Yeah. Except then." Happy laughs.

"Woof! Woof!" Beast Boy barks indignantly. " _Hey! Are you guys even following?_ "

"Yes Beast Boy, we're still following." Brave says, rolling his eyes.

"Well good." He grunts, turning back to human form. "'Cause I think he's right around the corner."

Happy immediately bounds around the aforementioned corner, not wasting a second.

"Hey Ru- Oh. That can't be good."

The other quickly join the cheery emoticlone in starting down the tunnel.

"What the hell is that?" Brave asks, rolling his eyes. "Rude, get down."

"I can't!" The boy in the brown cape whines. "Braaaave, heeeelp."

"Azar that's annoying." Raven mutters whilst shaking her head. "I don't like him already."

"You wouldn't be the first." The Nightwing impostor remarks, sighing. "Alright. I'll get you down."

It was beyond them how Rude had managed to get himself on the ceiling tangles up in streamers and balloons. Other party decorations such as hats and a banner were strewn about, creating an odd contrast with the grey of the tunnel.

"A party?" Shadow questions, watching as Brave throws a disk and cuts through the streamers. "Out in the middle of nowhere?"

"It was a surprise..." Rude defends, crossing his arms. He suddenly falls from the ceiling and lands flat on his face. Groaning in annoyance, he stands back up.

"YOU SUCK?" Beast Boy chuckles, picking up the banner and reading it. "For Knowledge, isn't it?"

"Genius. How on Earth did you figure it out?" Rude snarks, brushing himself off.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him." Raven notes. "Sarcastic and, well, rude. Just like one would expect."

" _Wrong_ with me?" The boy growls. "Offensive much?"

"Rich coming from you." Brave snaps back.

"Grrr..." Rude snarls, hands flitting to his belt.

Brave drops into a ready stance, one hand out front and one near his belt.

"Hey, Hey!" Beast Boy shouts, stepping between them. "Chill out dudes. No need to get all riled up."

"Beast Boy is right." Brave sighs. "Stand down Rude."

"You first." The boy in the brown cape says suspiciously.

"You don't trust me not to attack you?" The Nightwing impostor huffs, eyes narrowing.

"Can't be too careful." Rude replies evenly.

"Funny, I would have thought _I_ had more reason to suspect trickery." Brave sneers. "You're not exactly a saint."

"You asked for it!" Rude roars. He pushes Beast Boy aside and whips out a birdarang before chucking it at the Nightwing imposter.

Brave ducks the attack, dropping almost flat to he ground. He swiftly kicks out with his leg, forcing Rude to hop back.

"Stop." Raven says firmly, using her powers to envelop both emoticlones in separate bubbles. "We don't have time for this."

"Like hell we don't!" Rude snarls, baring his teeth in a rather animalistic fashion. "Just a few swings! C'mon, you know he deserves it!"

"Let us out Raven." Brave yells, pounding on the bubble and glaring at the empath. "I need to beat some sense into this looser!"

"Always thinking with your fists." The half-demon sighs. "And I thought Robin was rather intelligent. It seems I was mistaken."

"I resent that!" The Nightwing impostor huffs, dropping back from the side of the bubble and crossing his arms. "We're plenty intelligent."

"It's just that playing it smart isn't what we prefer." Rude agrees while adopting a similar position to Brave's.

"Then it's a miracle you're still alive." Raven remarks dryly. "But nonetheless, we can't have you wasting time fighting each other."

"Fine..." Rude consents, frowning in irritation.

"As you wish." Brave sighs, annoyed.

" _Why are they complaining as if I'm the bad guy?_ " Raven grumbles to herself as she releases the two.

The two emoticlones share looks of vague amusement as the empath releases them. None of their former tension is present at all; it was all just a show for their own entertainment.

"That was all very entertaining." Shadow deadpans. "But I believe we should be off."

"Killjoys." Rude sighs, rolling his eyes.

Giggling, Happy agrees. "No sense of fun."

"My definition of 'fun' does not include beating someone up." Raven grunts.

"ANYWAYS." Beast Boy says loudly, grabbing their attention. "Where to next?"

"Just keep going." Rude offers, leaning against the wall. "Knowledge's place is actually just past here."

"I thought it was right near get start." Beast Boy says, confused.

"Nah, that's just where we all meet up during the night. It's dangerous to walk about when Rob is asleep." Brave explains.

"Either way, Knowledge's place is basically the center of Robin's mind. So you can go find any of us pretty easily from there." Rude offers.

"Right then, would you mind leading?" Raven asks.

"Eh, fine." Rude sighs.

"Hold up, go back to the 'dangerous when he's asleep' part." Beast Boy says weakly.

"What about it?" Brave questions, casting a look in his direction as they start walking.

"What makes it so dangerous?" The green boy inquires tentatively.

"Bad memories." The Nightwing impostor says quietly. "Emoticlones aren't the only beings that walk these tunnels."

Shadow, who had taken up the rear again, was eavesdropping discreetly. His mouth tightened upon hearing that little piece of information.

" _So... It is quite possible that our little stalker is not at all someone we want to meet._ " He thinks grimly. He pauses for a moment. " _Come to think of it, I haven't seen the figure in a while now. I wonder if it's still following us._ "

The silence following Brave's reveal of danger lasts only until a cry comes out from the front of the group. The three Titans had fallen behind their companions, and couldn't see the cause.

"Did we mention there was someone following us earlier?" Beast Boy says weakly, dashing around a corner Raven, Happy, and Rude had turned.

"That would have been nice to know!" Brave spits, enraged.

"Discuss this later." Shadow orders curtly, pulling into the lead of the three man squad. "Stay behind me. Let's see what happened."

The three turn yet another corner, and Shadow pulls up short causing Beast Boy to run into him and fall to the ground. The hero of Blacksoak himself manages to keep his balance quite easily as Brave joins the group.

"Him..." The Nightwing lookalike snarls, pulling out his bo-staff.

"Well, well, well." The man laughs, standing over an unconscious Rude and happy whilst holding Raven up by her collar. "Look who's decided to join us! The brutes!"

"You look familiar..." Shadow says slowly.

"Of _course_ he looks familiar!" Beast Boy yelps, springing to his feet. "It's the freaking Joker!"

"It would seem my reputation precedes me." The clown chuckles. "Though I can't really say I'm surprised, I am the prince of crime."

"Humble." Brave snarks. The grip he has on his staff tightens. "Now what do you want?"

"Nothing much." The clown hums, walking back and forth calmly, still holding onto Raven who is giving him a death glare. "I just want to make the ol' boy wonder smile a bit! The lady is far to serious."

"I fail to see how knocking his clones unconscious makes him smile." Shadow remarks, calmly eyeing the clown.

"You're not thinking the right way!" Joker chuckles, turning his head to regard the pale boy. "Without his pesky clones in the way, I can take the reins! I'll show the kid how to have a good time!"

"Doubtful." Beast Boy growls, overcoming his momentary fear. "Now put Raven down."

"Put her down?" The clown asks, a mad grin spreading over his face. "If you insist."

The maniac villain instantly whips out a gun and holds it to her head.

"It's beyond me why you'd want her put down, but hey, gotta try new things, right kid?" Joker laughs, his grin darkens, becoming more menacing.

"You have five seconds." Shadow says in a dangerously calm tone.

"Correction, the demon has five seconds." The clown sneers. "If you all don't back up to the edge of the room."

Beast Boy snarls defiantly, but complies. Brave and Shadow follow slowly, eyes never leaving the prince of crime.

"Good." Joker coos. "Now, let's play a game, shall we? I'm sure you've all heard of it."

"What game?" Beast Boy asks cautiously.

The clown prince of crime snickers darkly. "Russian Roulette."

Brave goes pale, Raven's eyes widen, Beast Boy sucks in a breath, and Shadow looks on apathetically.

"One shot." The Joker informs them, waving the gun. "Six slots, so one of you goes twice."

The hero of Blacksoak glances to the clones on the floor. " _luckily they aren't a part of this._ "

"I'll throw you a bone Nighty," The clown chuckles, addressing Brave. "You chose who goes twice."

The Nightwing lookalike is lost, looking from Beast Boy and Shadow, to Joker and his hostage.

"I'll go twice." The hero of Blacksoak says calmly. "Is that acceptable Brave?"

The emoticlone looks very much like he wants to disagree, but something in Shadow's look stops him. He nods mutely.

"So the vampireish boy first, then the demon, then me, then you two, then him once more?" Joker asks, cocking his head with a feral grin.

Brave nods again.

"Let's go then." Joker snickers, aiming the gun at Shadow. "Bang." He says, pressing the trigger.

Nothing happens.

"Lucky him." The clown laughs, moving the gun to Raven's head. "Now for the green boy's little sweetheart."

Raven looks absolutely terrified, an expression the others have never seen on her.

Joker pulls the trigger. "Bang."

Nothing again.

"Ohhhh, this is so exciting!" Joker giggles madly, pulling the gun up to his own head. "Bang!" He cries, firing the gun again.

Still nothing.

Beast Boy's ears perk up and his eyes flare when he hears a small click after the trigger has been pressed, something he hadn't heard the other times.

The bullet is in place. Next shot is real.

He starts to panic as Joker aims at him. " _No, no no! I can't let it end here, not like this!_ "

Shadow notices his brother's panic, and seems to understand the reason. He shares a look with Brave, who nods his apparent understanding.

Joker smiles wildly. "C'mon already little bullet, show time!" He laughs again and presses the trigger. "Bang!"

Shadow acts the instant before the trigger is pressed, stepping into the line of fire.

The sound of a gun firing fills the room, causing Raven and Beast Boy to wince, one because her ears hurt, and the other because he thought he was going to die.

Brave immediately lunges for Joker, who is holding the, now empty, gun.

The clown prince of crime shrieks and drops both the gun and Raven to the floor. He dodges Brave's first strike and pulls out a crowbar from inside his coat.

"You didn't even let me gloat!" The lunatic snarls, swinging the metal weapon at the clone's head.

While Brave and Joker fight, Beast Boy drops to his knees beside his little brother.

"Shadow..."

"I'm fine."

The changeling jumps in shock, startled by the fact he actually got a reply.

The hero of Blacksoak easily rises to his feet, saying, "There is a reason I volunteered to go twice you know."

"Little help here!" Brave snarls, blocking a strike from Joker with his bo-staff.

"On it!" Beast Boy cries, shifting into a triceratops and charging the clown.

Brave clashes with Joker for a moment longer before leaping out of the way. The changeling slams right into the lanky villain, pinning him against the wall.

"Well..." Joker says slowly, watching as Raven and Shadow make their way over while Brave glares at him. "That didn't turn out quite like I hoped. You were supposed to die!" He directs this at the hero of Blacksoak.

"It's going to take complete disintegration to actually kill me." The pale boy deadpans. "Bullets are nothing."

"I was so sure that was going to work." Joker whines as Brave puts handcuffs on him. "You cheated anyways! It was going to hit the green freak!"

"Oh no, however will he forgive himself?" Raven says sarcastically. "Saving his brother's life? How _horrible._ "

"Where's the fun in that...?" The clown mutters, prompting Brave to shove his face into the wall.

"My head hurts." Happy says bluntly, sitting up abruptly.

"I want to hit him. Can I hit him?" Rude grunts. He rubs his head while sitting up and glares at Joker.

"No Rude." Brave sighs. He turns his head to address Beast Boy, Raven, and Shadow. "We need bring him back to the Batcave and lock him up."

"Yeah, that's great and all." The hero of Blacksoak says calmly. "But I have a bullet in my head, can we deal with that first?"

"Wha-? Oh. Right." Brave says sheepishly.

"I can do it." Raven offers. "Pull off the hood."

Shadow complies, causing Beast Boy to wince when he sees the bloody wound on his forehead.

"Black blood?" Raven asks, raising an eyebrow as she raises her hands to his forehead and envelops them in a dark aura.

"Chemicals." The hero of Blacksoak shrugs. "At least I don't need to worry about an infection. No form of fungi or any sort of parasite could actually survive my blood."

"Why?" Beast Boy inquires, curious.

"See previous answer."

"What do you-? Oh. Chemicals."

"Ding ding ding! Give the man a prize!" He deadpans.

"Done." Raven says, crushing the bullet the instant it's fully out and destroying it with her powers.

"Thank you." Shadow nods, feeling the wound. "Hmm... That should heal up in a few days."

"A few _days?_ " Beast Boy asks, flabbergasted. "Dude, how is that possiiii... Chemicals, right?"

"Yup."

"Alright kids, let's move already!" Brave barks, waving them along. "Like Raven said before, no time to waste!"

"Yes sir." Beast Boy sighs, motioning for him to take point."Lead on."

* * *

 **Chapter 8 complete. Not exactly how I had planned for the entire Joker thing to go down, but I'm satisfied. Shadow is capable of taking ridiculous damage, and once I remembered that it made the entire scene a lot simpler.**

 **Joker is a mind monster BTW. I had originally considered making it Slade, but I wanted to go with the entire Batman theme.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans. Well now, let's see... Fail, fail, aaaaand fail. That last chapter was awful looking back on it. Well, one part. I made one major mistake:**

 **NEVER EVER GIVE THE OC THE SPOTLIGHT IF THE STORY ISN'T ABOUT THEM.**

 **Why would I think this? Personal experience. I detest it when the author pigeonholes an OC into the story and just has them take the spotlight. I only realized my hypocrisy** _ **after**_ **the chapter was out, but I refuse to take down chapters or stories (hence why some of my AU stories are still around, though that may change in the near future do to some plans for The Beginning).**

 **Now that I think of it, Shadow just overlaps with Raven. They are both deadpan snarkers for the most part.**

 **It was a bad idea to put him in, hindsight 20/20.**

 **Whatever, I'll have to roll with it. I refuse to back up. After all, who needs editing? *sarcasm***

 **Kidding of course. I'm just too lazy to rewrite. I prefer just pumping my ideas out as fast as I can, regardless of quality.**

 **Speaking of pumping out low-quality crap, here's the next chapter.**

* * *

"I didn't expect to see you back here for quite a while." Knowledge says by way of greeting as the party enters Robin's mental equivalent of the Batcave.

"We had a package to deliver." Brave grunts, shoving Joker forward.

"Ahh..." Knowledge sighs, "Him."

"Yeah, almost got us shot." Rude grumbles.

"Actually, one of us did get shot." Beast Boy reminds him, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow pointedly.

"Yeah, but he can regenerate." Happy giggles, waving it off.

"He's not wrong." Shadow shrugs.

"Ah! You have returned!" Sloth says happily, turning over from where he was lying on a small couch. He raises a hand and waves.

"Good to know your eyes are working." Raven snarks, watching as Brave and Knowledge escort Joker to a cell at the back of the dark cavern. When a light snaps on revealing the cells, she notices several other criminals locked up as well: Penguin, Brother Blood, Two-Face, Professor Chang, and a few others.

Some notable villains were missing from their cells though, like Slade and Red-X. Special labeled cells reserved for them could be seen stacked on top of the others. Joker also had a special cell, and was unceremoniously thrown inside.

"You do know I'll just get out again, don't you?" Joker goads, laughing as the two emoticlones stalk away. "I always do."

"And then we'll just drag you back." Rude shoots back, sneering at the clown. "You can't win. This is _our_ home turf."

"For now it is." The prince of crime giggles maniacally. "Just you wait though, a couple cans of paint and a few thousand liters of joker gas, and I'll be the one calling this place home!"

"In your dreams." Brave huffs.

"No." Joker whispers, his laughter fading into a sinister smile. "In Robin's."

The light near the cells shut off, dropping the villain into darkness.

"That was... Unsettling." Beast Boy remarks, shivering. "I can see why people are terrified of him."

"That was nothing compared to what he normally pulls." Knowledge says softly. The Batman impostor drops into silent contemplation for a moment before shaking his head and turning to face the group. "No need to dwell on it. This is normal anyways. You should all be off to find Timid, Affection, and Rage."

"Care to actually help out smarty-pants?" Brave asks in irritation.

"I need to keep Robin's mind in order." Knowledge counters, gesturing at the giant computer in front of him. "Being unconscious isn't exactly safe, I need to make sure nothing goes wrong, no memories are lost, work of that nature." He glares at the Nightwing impostor. "Satisfied?"

"Fine..." Brave snarls. He turns sharply and strides out of the cave the way he had entered.

The other members of the party (Beast Boy, Raven, Shadow, Rude, and Happy for those of you who can't keep track), share looks and shrug simultaneously before following the huffy emoticlone out.

"Hopefully this will be quick." Raven mutters to herself, eyeing Brave wearily. "Beast Boy's mind was a lot less stressful than Robin's, and we still have three more to go..."

###

"So, you said we were going to Knowledge's place?" Beast Boy asks, jogging to catch up to Brave. "It's a library isn't it? Like Rae's Knowledge?"

"No Beast Boy, it isn't." The Nightwing impostor sighs. "It's a crime lab and evidence room."

"Aww. Boring." The shapeshifter sulks.

"I thought you didn't like libraries." Raven says curiously, tilting her head to look at the green boy.

"I normally don't." He admits. "But when it's in someone's mind then I can find all sorts of cool stuff!"

"Wait... My mind is the only one you've been in before this whole Mad Mod affair... YOU WERE READING MY THOUGHTS?" Raven shouts, outraged.

"We-Well yeah." Beast Boy stutters, backing up from the angry empath. "Knowledge said it was fine!" He exclaims defensively.

"Knowledge. I'm going to kill you!" Raven roars, eyes blazing.

"Talk about your mood swings." Rude grumbles, leaning against the stone wall and watching the scene unfold with boredom. "Must be that time of the month."

"What did you say?" The half-demon asks menacingly, turning around instantly to glare at the brown caped boy.

"Nothing!" He squeaks.

"And you!" She turns back to Beast Boy. "When did you do that? When did you searching through my thoughts?"

"A few days ago." The shapeshifter mumbles.

Raven's eyes narrow even more. "Why were you in my mind at all?"

"Happy told my to come visit sometime, so I did!" He protests. "How could I refuse?!"

"She's. Not. Real." The empath snaps. "Emoticlones are not people Beast Boy! They are just figments of our minds!"

"Like hell we aren't!" Brave snarls, stepping forward. "If we can walk, and talk, and feel beyond our core emotion, does that not make us people?"

"No! Because everything you are came from Robin's mind." She pokes the taller boy in the chest, sneering. "You are just a representation of Robin bravery, an mental construct made to resemble a person."

"Hold up!" Rude snaps as he Shadow, and Happy step in to separate the three quarreling teens. "None of you are using any proof! All we have is our assumptions. Do any of you have actual facts here?"

"Well..." Brave an Beast Boy share a tense look.

"See?" Raven snaps. "No proof! They aren't real people!"

"So what's your proof Raven?" Rude asks pointedly, crossing his arms and staring at the half-demon.

"I- Uh- You see- In the... Augh!" Raven throws her arms up into the air, annoyed.

"Nothing, right?" Rude huffs. "See, none of us know, so can we stop arguing about this?"

"But I can't just stand by and let someone treat you as lesser people!" The changeling whines.

"Your concern is unnecessary." Rude says in a surly tone, obviously irritated. "Once you guys are gone it won't matter anyways. We'll just go back to our normal lives. Stuck doing the same things forever."

"But- But-" Beast Boy stutters.

"Drop it B." Brave sighs, his shoulders slumping. "Rude is right after all."

"I..." The green boy's ears droop, his expression downcast. "Alright."

"Let's keep going." Happy says softly, taking the lead. "We need a distraction, and we're almost at Knowledge's place anyways."

The rest of the time spent traveling to the crime lab was silent, save for the soft footsteps of the party.

###

"This place is..." Shadow starts slowly, walking around the room and scanning the numerous newspaper clippings and pieces of evidence.

"Creepy." Beast Boy finishes, shuddering as he looks upon a picture depicting the victims of a joker gas attack.

"I was going to say it gives off an air of obsession, but that works too."

"Well you're still right." Brave sighs. "Knowledge isn't one to let things lie. He's always trying to figure something out, it's the main reason why Sloth never gets used."

"Figures." The changeling huffs, pushing aside a jar of... Something... and picks up a small picture frame, clearly not a piece of evidence. "But if this is any indicator, the dude isn't totally zoned out."

The others in the room gather around the shapeshifter, each trying to get a look at the small picture.

The photograph shows the four Titans aside from Robin. They are at the park, with Beast Boy bothering Raven as she reads under a tree while Cyborg and Starfire arm wrestle on a nearby picnic table.

"Always wondered where that picture went." Happy giggles. "He could have just asked."

"Ahh, but this is _Knowledge_." Brave chuckles, "He probably justified taking it because he looks like Batman, and that apparently means he can do whatever he wants."

"He'd be all like: 'I'm Batman! Batman needs picture to do brooding! Batman need to study evidence!'" Happy mimics, deepening his voice into a rasp.

"Apparently Batman talks like a caveman. Who knew?" Rude mutters, rolling his eyes.

"We did, duh!" Happy laughs. "We lived with him for, like, fourteen years or something!"

"And he never talked like that." Rude reminds the cheery boy in a bored voice.

"Dude, lighten up!" Beast Boy cries, slapping Rude on the back and sending him forward in a tumble. He turns to Happy and grins. "That imitation was spot on! Can you do any others?"

"I can do Bane!" The pink caped boy offers. His face contorts for a moment before settling into a serious look while speaking in an bad Mexican accent. "I am Bane, very macho. I break little man's back! You are too weak to stop me!"

"Dude, nice!" The changeling says. "Ohh! I can do one!" He straightens his back and mimes holding a wand. "Hello Titans, come to see the performance?" His voice is too raspy to properly copy Mumbo, but it isn't half bad. "You're a bit late, but don't worry. I'm sure you'll still be _shocked_ by what I have to show!" He pretends to shoot something from the imaginary wand. Lightning probably.

"That was a baaad joke." Brave smirks, rolling his eyes.

"You want a bad joke? We've all seen Rae's cooking skills." Rude offers, a grin crossing his face.

"Ouch!" Happy gasp, feigning shock. "You're not going to take that lying down, are you Rae?"

"Rae-ven." The empath says dryly. "And I don't particularly care. Can we just get going?"

"But we weren't done with the impressions!" Beast Boy whines, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Not giving into that today Beast Boy." Raven deadpans. "We leave _now_."

"Fine..." He grumbles.

"I suppose we have wasted enough time." Brave sighs. "Let's go find Affection."

* * *

 **Chapter 13 complete. Raven accuses Beast Boy of reading her thoughts because that's what lots of the books in her Knowledge's library are. Raven is also pretty impatient, always telling everyone that they need to keep moving. The impressions just kinda occurred to me soon put them in.**

 **Existential crises are fun! Well, not for the people involved, but you get the point.**

 **This segment below... I got nothing. Joy is just a fun character to use, and she can be as crazy or rational as I need her to be. She's like an easy-to-write Starfire. I mean, (Raven's) Timid is still my favorite, but Joy is becoming a close second .**

 **Joy. I think I'll keep that name if I ever use her again in another story**

 **I just wanted to write something more with her, just to guess how she would act. That's my excuse, not that you guys care, but hey, I just want to hear myself talk.**

 **Umm, see myself write?**

 **...**

 **Bah, whatever.**

* * *

"You're awfully quiet."

"What? Me? Nope! Just as loud as ever!"

"Hap-"

"It's Joy now."

"I thought you said that was a temporary nickname? Right then, uh, Joy. What's with you? You've been silent since Rae sent us back. I know it sucks, but it's not exactly unusual."

"I made a friend..."

"Really?"

"Yes, really!"

"Name?"

"Timid."

"You already know Timid."

"A different Timid."

"Oh, right. Guess I shoulda figured. I went into someone else's mind as well after all."

...

"Look, I know it sucks, but them's the brakes. We're just clones in someone's head. We should be grateful we even got to meet others beyond our host mind at all!"

"I know. I know. I'll get over it. I didn't know him for more than a few hours anyways."

...

...

"You really like him, don't you?"

"Yeah..."


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans. Next up: Affection. You know, after at least half a chapter of pointless chatter.**

* * *

"This way." Brave instructed, climbing up the rough stone wall.

The cavern they had entered was mostly vertical, and had a wall already fit for climbing, as if it had been carved out rather than randomly formed.

"Yeah, no." Rude grumbles. He pulls out his grapple gun and aim it at the ceiling. There is a a snapping sound as the cable shoots out and embeds itself in the stone above. "I'm doing it the easy way." He shoots at Brave as he rides past.

"Get some exercise!" The Nightwing impostor calls after him. "It's good for you!"

"No way, fitness junkie!" Is the reply.

"I'm with him." Raven says curtly, using levitation to ascend the wall.

"Caw!" Beast Boy agrees, flying up as a crow.

"Not an option for me." Shadow grunts, grabbing the ledge next to Brave and pulling himself up. "I'm gonna have to join you."

"We're almost at the top..." Brave sulks, annoyed that he forgot his grapple gun and no one aside from Shadow would climb with him.

"Why does Affection live up here anyways?" The hero of Blacksoak asks, reaching up for the next ledge.

"Apparently he likes the view." Brave sighs. "I don't exactly understand it. There's nothing to see but rock."

"Love is definitely blind then." Shadow muses. "Maybe he isn't capable of seeing how bad the view is."

"Doubt it." The Nightwing lookalike grumbles. "He can describe Starfire in vivid detail, so he probably still has his vision."

"How vivid are we talking?" The pale boy asks, suspicious.

"What do you-? Oh. No, he's not a pervert." Brave chuckles. "A bit obsessed perhaps, but nothing too worrisome."

"That's good to hear." Raven mutters, startling the two boys. They hadn't realized that they had reached the top of the wall. "If I never have to deal with someone like my Affection again, it will be too soon."

"Why?" Beast Boy asks curiously as he helps his little brother up. "I thought she was rather nice. She also makes a mean casserole."

"Definitely spending too much time in my mind." The empath mutters.

"Yeah, you creep." Rude says casually, grinning. "Sneaking around in your friend's mind? For shame." He raises an eyebrow. "Of course, _you_ would never do that. Right Raven?"

"Of course not." She huffs. "I respect everyone's privacy."

"I'm sure you do." The emoticlone hums, rolling his eyes with a smirk.

On the side, Happy giggles maniacally for a moment, only stopping when Raven shoots him an odd look.

"What?" The empath asks. Happy just shakes his head, grinning like an idiot. "What?" She asks again, getting annoyed.

"It's nothing." Shadow says smoothly, stepping into the metaphorical line of fire. "Just an inside joke."

Raven looks at the pale boy suspiciously, but let's it pass. She gives a small huff and turns to speak with Brave.

"Thanks for the cover." Happy giggles.

"No problem." Shadow shrugs. "What exactly were you laughing about anyways?"

"People say hypocrisy isn't funny." The emoticlone says, still grinning. "I disagree."

"As do I." Rude chuckles. "Considering how smart she is, I'm surprised she didn't notice."

"Do you really have nothing better to do than talk about our teammate behind her back?" Shadow sighs.

"Yes." Rude says.

"No." Happy giggles. "But it's fun nonetheless!"

"I question your priorities..." The pale boy says quietly.

"And I question your fashion sense." Rude counters.

"Says the traffic light." Shadow deadpans.

"To the vampire." The emoticlone snickers.

"Knowledge isn't here." The hero of Blacksoak says, raising an eyebrow.

"Your _brain_ isn't here." Rude snorts.

"That doesn't even make sense in this context." Shadow sighs.

"Hey, I ran out of things to say! Sue me!" The emoticlone says defensively. "Witty banter isn't easy!"

"But Robin is..." A solemn voice says, startling the party (save the two cloaked Titans, though for different reasons). "He is so very easy. How could he be fooled with such ease?"

"Affection?" Brave calls. "Is that you?"

"Yes." The boy sighs, emerging from a niche in the wall. "It is good to see you Brave."

"Likewise." The Nightwing impostor nods. "What's all this about being 'easy'?"

"Think about it." Affection says, waving a hand in the air. "All it took was a kiss and suddenly he did everything she asked of him. He didn't even know her!"

"I presume you're speaking of Starfire?" Brave asks.

"Of course." The boy with the pink cape nods.

"Robin didn't do _everything_ she asked." Happy reminds them. "He still wouldn't go to the mall with her."

"Because that would take away time from finding leads on Slade." Affection reasons, waving it off. "I believe we can all agree that would be a special circumstance."

"Fair enough." Brave says. "But listening to a friend? I hardly see how that classifies him as simple to manipulate."

"That's just it!" Affection growls. "He listens to her _too_ much. Robin is the leader, he shouldn't be taking orders from someone else!"

"I wouldn't call asking for a movie night an order..." Rude mutters, crossing his arms.

"Or wanting to train with him? That's not even getting him to change what he was doing!" Happy adds.

"Your logic is flawed Affection." Brave points out. "This sudden mistrust of Starfire is likely caused by Mad Mod attack. It messes with us emoticlones, making us act contrary to how we normally would."

"That would explain much." Affection muses. "Very well. I shall take your word for it."

"I didn't expect you to accept such an explanation so readily..." The Nightwing impostor says in surprise.

"Would you two stop talking like that?!" Rude shouts, glaring at the two clones. "You sound like some old-fashioned psychologists."

"I didn't know there were was such thing as an old-fashioned psychologist." Beast Boy says, surprised.

"I'm not sure if there was, but if so, then they are perfect examples of it!" Rude says, giving Brave and Affection pointed looks.

"Excuse us for having intelligent conversation." Brave huffs.

"Leave that to Knowledge." Rude snorts. "He spouts enough o' that crap for all eight of us."

"No reason the rest of us can't speak more cleanly than you." Affection sniffed. "And if we happen to sound higher class, so be it."

"Hey! I haven't sworn a single time today!" The boy in the brown cloak complains.

"How proud you must be." Affection mutters while rolling his eyes. He takes a moment to stretch and readjusts his purple cape. "Perhaps you can turn that into a daily affair?"

Rude's eyes narrow. "Don't count on it pretty boy."

"It was worth a shot." Affection shrugged.

"Waste of time trying to convince Rude to change." Brave snorted. "Same old, same old."

"I can hear you..."

"Ah, how I long for the day when he gains a sense of _morality_!"

"Hey! I'm rude, not evil!"

"We shall all just _suffer_ until then!"

"Why you little-!"

"Enough!" Shadow shouts, stepping in between the two emoticlones. He gives each of them a pointed look. "Squabble when we the rest of us are gone. We came here to free Robin, not listen to your petty arguments."

The pale hero spun on his heel and walked to the edge of the cliff.

"Now if you're quite done, we should get going." He huffed. "Come Big Brother."

"Uh, right!" Beast Boy said quickly, scrambling after his younger sibling. Raven was quick to follow as the two boys hopped off the cliff.

...

"Did he just call me petty?" Brave asked no one in particular, looking quite irked.

"I believe he was referring to _all_ of us." Affection pointed out, crossing his arms. "We were being a bit immature..."

"That's just my style." Rude sniffed scornfully. "You two have no excu-"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Happy shouted, waving his hands and cutting off his orange counterpart. "We're all being a bit silly, whatever! It's fine! We can settle this later if it's really that big a problem! But we should really catch up to them. After all, they have no idea where they're heading!"

"I guess _someone_ has to lead them." Brave grumbled.

"Yeah. The rest of you are dirt useless." Rude snarked.

"Please, you couldn't lead yourself out of a paper bag." Affection chided the sarcastic boy.

"Move now, come one, let's go!" Happy yells, shoving each other clone to the cliff edge.

The Brave and Affection glared at Rude, who returned the look with equal intensity. It wasn't until Happy nearly shoved them off the cliff that they broke eye contact.

"Fine." Rude snarled. "If you're so great, you lead." He motioned for Brave to jump.

"And so I will." The Nightwing impostor shot back. He spread his arm wings and glided down to the floor.

The others followed a bit more slowly, as they needed to use the cliff face to slow their descent. Only Brave and Knowledge were actually capable of gliding, so the other emoticlones had to attach the end of their grapple guns to the ceiling and hop down in short intervals.

The Titans hadn't actually gone very far at all. They had been waiting at the bottom of the cliff, expecting their departure to prompt the emoticlones to follow.

Brave didn't even acknowledge them and started walking as soon as he landed. Raven, Beast Boy and Shadow shared looks before trailing along behind him. Affection was quick to run up front next to Brave, and Happy joined the Titans while Rude sulked in the back.

###

"Dude, I'm getting bored of this place." Beast Boy sighed, gripping his hair in frustration. "It's just endless tunnels. No games, no scenery; heck, no food even!" He exaggerated his frown, tugging on Raven's cape. "Why can't this be like your mind? With an arcade and and Happy Tower!"

"I already regret letting you in my mind more than once." The empath hissed in annoyance as she forcefully pulled her cape out of the green boy's prying fingers. "Don't push me any further."

"You're no fun..." The shapeshifter pouted.

"That has already been established several times," Raven said curtly. "and I still don't care."

"But fun is good!" Happy pointed out. "Everyone loves fun!"

"Definitions of fun may vary." The half-demon retorted. "My doesn't include shouting, roughhousing, and video games."

"You don't know what you're missing." Beast Boy chuckled, shaking his head.

"And hopefully I never will." Raven muttered under her breath.

"C'mon Rae, I know you love playing with us. I see you smiling at the park." The changeling nudged the half-demon cheekily.

"Maybe you need glasses then." The pale girl snarks. "It wouldn't be the first time you saw me doing something that never happened."

"No way dude, animal eyesight is the best! No flaws here!" Beast Boy says proudly, thumping his chest.

"I'm fairly sure it doesn't work like that..." Shadow murmured softly from behind his brother.

"Shhh! She doesn't need to know!" Beast Boy said in an exaggerated whisper.

"Hilarious." Raven remarked dryly.

"I know I am, thanks for noticing." The shapeshifter chirped, grinning.

"About time too." Happy giggled.

"Why is everyone against me?" The empath asked, clearly annoyed.

"You're so easy to argue with!" Happy offered.

"Your sullen attitude makes you a prime target for mockery." Shadow added.

"It's just what I always do." Beast Boy offered, grinning.

"Not for long if you keep it up..." Raven muttered under her breath.

"Don't be that way. We know you love us." The changeling said with a large grin.

"It is now official." The half-demon growled, glaring at him. "I like your emoticlones better than you. They knew when to shut up, mostly."

"Oh yeah!" Beast Boy snapped his fingers. "You never told me what my mind was like!"

"And I don't plan to."

"C'mon Rae. I deserve to know, it is _my_ mind after all."

"If you promise to _stay silent_ , then fine. I'll tell."

"Story time!" Happy cheered.

"That goes for you too!"

* * *

 **Chapter 14 complete. I really have nothing I want to comment on this time. Nadda, zilch. How boring am I, eh?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"Wait wait wait! Let me get this straight!" Beast Boy shouts, waving his arms wildly. "My smart clone got drunk, Brave hated you, and Timid made friends with your Happy?"

"There was a lot more than that, but yes." Raven nods. "And Happy insists upon being given called 'Joy' now. I have your Timid to thank for that as well."

"It's like Happy, but joyful!" Happy chirps. "I like it!"

" _Now, where have I heard that before?_ " The empath thinks as she rolls her eyes, remembering her own pink clone. " _Too similar for me._ "

"I would have loved to meet my clones." Beast Boy says wistfully. His eyes take on a distant look. "Learn more about myself, ask some important questions..." The green boy's voice trails off as he ventures deep into thought.

"That's much the same reason I originally learned to access my own mind." Raven murmurs. "Not just controlling my emotions, but learning why I felt things when I did. The monks of Azarath weren't exactly helpful in that regard."

"Yeah..." The changeling drones, eyes still vacant. "I could figure out why I like mushrooms as a pizza topping more than onions..."

"How is that an 'important question'?" Raven sighs.

"Because it doesn't make sense!" Beast Boy protests, snapping out of his trance. "I normally like onions soooo much better!"

"And this is such a significant issue to you that it warrants a head trip?" The empath deadpans. "Truly you have first world problems."

"Hey! Pizza toppings are serious business!" The green boy shouts indignantly.

"Yeah!" Happy agrees, "Pizza is great!"

"I should have known better than to hope for intelligent conversation from an elf and an irrationally cheery clone of Robin." Raven sighs, turning away from the two as they engage in a conversation about their favorite pizza toppings.

"To be fair, your options for conversation right now are fairly limited." Brave offers sympathetically. "And for someone as poorly inclined to emotional talks as you, none of the aforementioned options are particularly good." The Nightwing lookalike glances back at the group before speaking again. "Unless you want to chat with Shadow that is."

"Pass." Raven sighs. "He's... Unsettling. Reminds me too much of myself."

"I hear you." Brave nods in agreement. A small beeping noise from his belt attracts both of their attentions. The tall boy plucks his communicator from his belt and holds it up at eye level. "Yeah? Brave here."

"Knowledge." The man on the other end of the device replies curtly. Raven maneuvers herself so that she can look over Brave's shoulder at the Batman impostor. "I presume you found Affection?"

"Yep." Brave nods and shifts the camera so that Knowledge can look over the group. His eyes quickly single out the purple-clad boy.

"Good." The Batman impostor says quickly. "Because I've located Rage, if you are all in good enough condition to continue I would suggest you proceed to his location right now."

"It's urgent?" Brave asks. His eyes drop to the bottom screen as the map there updates to show Rage's location. "He's at... The archives?"

"Indeed." Knowledge says. "He is quite calm at the moment, courtesy of Mod no doubt, but I don't want him to be there a moment longer than necessary. There are so many memory files there that could set him off, and the last thing we need is a rampage."

"Understood." Brave nods. He snaps the communicator closed, ending the transmission. "Needless to say, we should hurry."

"Rage seems to be a problem for all of us." Raven murmurs as the Nightwing lookalike picks up the pace to a light run. The rest of the group notices quickly and matches the speed, thought this doesn't stop their conversations.

"It does seem to be a universal problem." Brave agrees. The two lapse into silence softly thereafter, listening to the conversations of the others behind them.

###

"-way you shoot starbolts."

Raven picks up on Robin's voice as the group entered a building that looked suspiciously like a library, not unlike her own Knowledge's domain. The main difference was that each shelf is lined with discs and not books.

Rage isn't hard to find. He's sitting in the middle of the room on a sofa, staring up at a large television screen.

The screen shows Starfire sitting next to a small fire. Raven guesses the video was from Robin's point of view.

The normally angry emoticlone, surprisingly enough, has taken the form of Red-X. He has his mask off and wears a mournful expression as he watches the video.

"Rage!" Happy chirps, bounding over to his wrathful counterpart. "There you are! We've been looking for you!"

Rage doesn't respond. His eyes remain fixed on the screen.

Rude and Affection watch the events on the screen as well, remembering the event. They relive the sonic scream monster knocking Robin and Starfire to the edge of a cliff, and they smirk as Robin quickly seals its mouth shut with a glue disk.

Beast Boy and Raven join Happy in trying to prompt a response out of Rage. Brave is going to join them when Shadow walks over, holding a DVD case.

"I believe this to be the video he is watching." The hero of Blacksoak says blankly, handing the empty case to Brave.

Thanking the pale boy, Brave glances down at the plain-looking case. It's title is written on top of a price of masking tape. It reads "Stranded".

With a sigh, the Nightwing lookalike strides over to where Raven, Beast Boy, and Happy are attempting to grab Rage's attention to little avail.

Gently pushing the others aside, Brave takes a seat next to the unresponsive clone. He turns his eyes to the screen as well, smiling as he watches Starfire save Robin from falling after they had lead the monster off the cliff.

"Memories huh?" He asks softly, not taking his eyes from the screen.

Rage doesn't speak, but he does give a small nod.

"Robin was so stupid... Still is." Brave chuckles.

The Red-X lookalike's face sports a small smile.

"What are you looking so bored for?" The Nightwing impostor asks softly, glancing to the side in order to see his counterpart. "This is a funny memory, isn't it?"

Rage nods slowly.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Can't get mad." The Red-X lookalike sighs. "Normally I can get furious at Robin's stupidity here."

"Yeah." Brave agrees. "He was an idiot."

"But I just can't hate him." Rage groans. "Ever since that fight with Mod went south, I just can't work myself up."

"I never thought the day would come when I actually _want_ you to be mad, at Robin no less, but you aren't." Chuckles Brave.

"Well we don't always get what we want, now do we?" Rage remarks dryly. He finally pulls his eyes of the screen to look at Brave with a bored expression.

"You're just a bundle of joy today, aren't you?" The Nightwing lookalike mutters with a smile as he rolls his eyes to the ceiling.

"We both know know that term doesn't apply to me, much less today of all days." Is the dry reply.

"Sarcasm Rage, sarcasm."

"I know."

The other emoticlones, Beast Boy, Raven, and Shadow all watch from the sidelines, wondering exactly what Brave is actually doing.

"Just talking to Rage about his problem won't necessarily help." Raven points out quietly. "We need to actually get him mad."

"Unless Brave is assuming that his calm rationality and sarcasm will irritate Rage enough to be counted as anger." Shadow offers. "Though that seems unlikely."

"Yeah. Instead, just insult the guy enough and he'll blow his top." Beast Boy says, watching Brave and Rage closely. The shapeshifter frowns as the Red-X lookalike leans back in his seat, clearly relaxing. "All Brave is doing is making Rage chill out."

"Robin knows himself well." Happy says cheerfully, joining the conversation. "And, by extension, so do we. Don't worry, Brave has this."

"If you say so." Raven sighs. Her expression clearly shows doubt as she returns her attention to both of the emoticlones sitting on the sofa.

"But seriously?" Brave chuckles. "You chose to watch _this_ video? I mean, there are tons of others that are much more rage-inducing. Any that have Slade, or the Joker, or..."

"I get it." Rage says sharply. He gives Brave an irritated look. "But this was the first thing that came to mind."

"Robin getting shunned by his love interest? I never took you for the drama type." Laughs the Nightwing impostor.

"I do _not_ like drama." Rage huffs, turning back to the video. "Quit making assumptions."

"It's not an assumption if it's true." Brave taunts, smiling from ear to ear.

"That's not how assumptions work," The Red-X lookalike growls. "And you know it."

"Quit being dramatic." Brave scoffs.

"I am _not_ being dramatic!" Rage hisses.

"Deniiiial!" Brave sings.

" **I AM NOT IN DENIAL!** " Rage roars, his face turning slightly red in anger.

"There we go!" The Nightwing impostor cheers, giving his wrathful counterpart a genuine smile. "Rage is back!"

" **No, I'm-!** Oh. I guess I am." Rage's voice petered out suddenly, loosing all intensity.

"Am I good, or am I good?!" Brave crows, turning to everyone who had been watching with a maniac grin. Behind him Rage glances over to the assembled crowd and just shrugs. The Red-X lookalike is still far from what Beast Boy and Raven had expected out of Robin's embodiment of hate and anger. They had honestly not been expecting him to just drop the issue of being teased and annoyed so easily.

"If by 'good' you mean that you know how to mercilessly tease a different version of yourself, then yes, you're extremely good." Raven deadpans.

"You are just no fun, you know that?" Brave chuckles, striding over and thumping the empath on the back. "Lighten up."

"I prefer the dark." Raven says sarcastically. "It shields me from dealing with people like you all day."

"How so?" Brave asks, crossing his arms with a cocky smile.

"While you are off being all big-headed and flaunting your single grain of intelligence to everyone who will listen, I can sit in my room where there is no one but me, and therefore no reason for you to drop by." The half-demon explains dryly.

"In other words: 'Hiss! I'm a vampire!'" Beast Boy mocks, pretending he has a cape and bringing his arm in front of his face dramatically to shield his mouth from sight.

"Actually, her explanation had absolutely nothing to do with the dark." Rude snarks.

"My room is dark, therefore no one wants to visit because they like sunshine." Raven counters.

"I'm fairly sure the darkness isn't the reason that no one visits..." Happy says tentatively.

"What are you suggesting then?" The empath asks sharply as she turns to send her trademark death glare at the pink emoticlone.

"Nothing." Happy squeaks, cowering behind Affection.

"Soo... Is Rage all better?" Beast Boy asks cautiously. Peering over at the Red-X lookalike.

"Yep, all he needed was a someone to work him up." Brave says cheerily, motioning to the brooding emoticlone. "This is how he normally acts."

"Kinda like you." Rude snickers, elbowing Raven.

The half-demon is quick to switch her glare from Happy to Rude.

"That means just one more to go!" Beast Boy exclaims happily. "With Rob, this entire 'entering minds and messing around' thing will be soo much easier!"

"You make it sound like he's done this before." Rude grumbles.

"Yeah, I know he hasn't." The changeling says dismissively, waving off Rude's point. "But he knows how to do the entire psycho-analysis thing, so he'll be a big help."

"Well-" Raven starts.

"With all due respect, can you just get going?" Rage sighs from his seat on the couch. "I want you out of Robin's mind as fast as possible. You aren't supposed to be here."

"Well that doesn't sound suspicious." Raven mutters, eyeing the Red-X lookalike as Brave quickly ushers everyone, save Rage, out of the building.

"Hey, you don't like me being in your mind either." Beast Boy points out as he tugs her arm, trying to drag her out of the building as per Rage's request. "His question doesn't sound that strange to me."

"I suppose you're right..." The empath murmurs, turning her back to the emoticlone and walking out to join the rest of her group.

* * *

 **Chapter 15 complete.** **I'm still here people, never fear! Rage is Red-X because... Reasons? My main thought was that Red-X would remind Robin of how far he could go when he was really desperate. It seems fitting to me.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"So we just need Timid then?" Beast Boy asks, seemingly a bit giddy. "Man, we are good at this!"

"I would hope so." Raven remarks dryly. "Or else we might have severely screwed Robin up..."

"Like he isn't already?" The changeling jokes.

The group consisting of Raven, Beast Boy, Shadow, Happy, Rude, Brave, and Affection strides through the halls in search of the last emoticlone. The dark pathways are just as ominous as ever, but the team is undeterred as they are quite used to cold stone corridors; be it sewers, evil lairs, or the passages of Robin's mind.

Brave, unsurprisingly, is at point; leading the team down tunnel after tunnel. Beneath his mask, his blue eyes flit back and forth, ever wary for an attack. Unlike Raven's mind, Robin's mental monsters aren't restricted to one area, so one needs to be constantly alert.

" _We don't need a repeat of the Joker attack._ " He thinks to himself, glancing down a tunnel as he passes by. " _We were lucky Shadow can regenerate._ "

Speaking of Blacksoak's hero, Shadow is keeping guard at the back of the group. His night-vision makes him the perfect lookout in these dark passages.

The rest of the team is oblivious to the vigilance of the two heroes. They are busy chatting about whatever comes to mind to pass time, as the travel times between locations are irritatingly large.

Brave and Shadow don't mind doing the work here. They're used to being loners anyways.

"I wonder what Timid's problem will be." Beast Boy muses aloud, scratching his chin. "Maybe he'll be super confident!"

"Or stuck in a cage." Raven mutters, remembering the last grey emoticlone she had found.

"I would _hate_ being stuck in a cage dude." The green boy whines, shivering slightly. "They are not fun."

"Sounds like you speak from experience." Affection notes, looking at Beast Boy expectantly.

"Hey, I wasn't always part of a hero group." He mutters defensively. "I'd prefer not to remember too much..."

Both Raven and Affection nodded in understanding. Everyone had something they would prefer to forget.

That very thought prompted a pause from Affection. The group was, after all, going to find on of Robin's secrets in the form of Timid. One which the boy wonder had purposely not revealed despite the Titans being together for the better part of two years and becoming as close as family.

Still, there were some things Robin would prefer they didn't know.

Well, this time there wasn't much of a choice, was there?

The pink-caped boy stays silent as Beast Boy starts speaking again. His thoughts continuing to focus on the upcoming revelation.

" _Hopefully it won't be that big a deal..._ "

###

"Timid? Hey Timid, you here?" Brave calls, glancing inside the massive metal gate.

The group is standing in front of a mansion situated in an extremely big cavern. The building was a grey, flat building surrounded by a metal gate. It had a few spires scattered around with a larger one at the center.

"Why would Robin's timid counterpart want to live in somewhere as creepy as this?" Raven murmurs, eyeing the building with caution. There was something about this place... It seemed important some how. It didn't look like any of the others' homes. It was so much larger, and very detailed.

"He likes it here." Affection says distractedly as he gazes at the building. "So do I."

"Ahh memories." Happy hums wistfully. His eyes are slightly glazed over as they stare off into the distance.

"Bad ones." Rude replies in a rather grumpy tone.

"And good ones too." Affection scolds. "You remember ol' Alfie right?"

"Yeah. Can't argue there." The snarky boy sighs.

"Thank the stars Robin never actually called him "ol' Alfie"." Brave snorts as he pushes open the gate. "He would not have liked that."

"I have a feeling we're missing something." Beast Boy says to Raven, obviously confused. "You know what they're talking about?"

"No idea." The empath replies bluntly. She tentatively steps into the mansion's courtyard with Beast Boy and Shadow right behind her. She reaches out with her empathic powers, searching for signs of life. Beside her, she can hear the green changeling sniffing the air and knows that his brother is most likely making use of his night vision for the same purpose as her.

"Can't smell anything." Beast Boy says quietly.

"No other minds in range." Raven murmurs.

"Nothing to see." Shadow reports curtly. His eyes dart to Brave. "What is the plan?"

"We walk in and say hi." The Nightwing lookalike says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He pushes past the three heroes and strides confidently towards the house.

"Assuming he's even there." Raven grumbles.

"Never know until we go see." Brave calls back over his shoulder.

"Come on!" Happy chirps. He bounds forward and drags Beast Boy and Raven along with him. The rest of the group trails along behind.

###

Two massive oak doors tower over the group. Each is dark brown with an intricate bronze handle set at shoulder height.

Beast Boy's ears flick back and forth, still trying to catch a sound of the last emoticlone.

Raven just fidgets on the cobblestone pathway. " _This place is unsettling._ "

The emoticlones and Shadow seem perfectly at ease, sensing none of the bad vibes apparent to the changeling and the empath.

Brave knocks confidently on the door; even from outside the group can hear how it echoes around the mansion. Like the ringing of a massive bell the sound bounces off the walls and rebounds down the numerous hallways before sounding back outside to the Titans.

The group waits for a few seconds. When there is no response after a few seconds Brave shrugs and shoves the doors open.

The oaken barriers swing inwards with an ominous creak to reveal a dark hallway. There is an ornate coat stand to the group's left as they step inside and a fancy ceramic umbrella holder right next to it.

Peering down the dark path laid out in front of them, Shadow takes note of the drawn curtains obscuring the outside world. Without his vision, the others are also unable to notice the large amount of dust that lingers on most surfaces around the mansion.

"This place barely seems lived in." The hero of Blacksoak murmurs, rubbing a bit of dust off the umbrella holder.

"Timid isn't very active." Brave says softly. It would appear the solemn aura of the mansion's interior prompted the Nightwing impostor to keep his voice down as well. "I wouldn't be surprised if half the objects in this place are untouched."

Beast Boy's nostrils flare for a moment before he coughs violently.

"Dudes, it's musty in here." The changeling whispers, fanning the air in front of his face. "Can't smell anything but dust."

"I sense something now." Raven says quietly. "But it's weak, and I can't narrow down it's location."

"Let's get moving then." Brave orders softly. "We'll check the library first, it's his usual spot."

The group nods its understanding before slowly starting to creep through them mansion. Even the most vocal members of the group seem reluctant to speak unless necessary.

The floorboards creak under their feet as they move and a phantom wind whistles through the house, causing the curtains to flutter and release more dust. There are no lights to speak of, not even unnatural and faint illumination present in the rock tunnels outside. The further in the group travels, the less everyone (save Shadow) is able to see.

Eventually, they reach the library. Its tall shelves are barely visible to most of the group thanks to the lack of light.

"Shadow?" Brave calls out.

"Yes?"

"There should be a light switch just to our left."

"I see it. Just a second."

The rest of the group waits in anticipation as they hear the boy's footsteps padding softly to the left.

Click.

"Nothing." Shadow calls.

"No power?" Brave mutters. "Unusual."

" _How does one get power in the middle of a cave complex in the first place?_ " Raven thinks to herself as she stains her eyes, trying to make out the room's features.

"In that case there should be candles littered around the room." Brave calls. Just bring a few over.

The hero of Blacksoak wanders off for a few moments, collecting the items. The group tries to locate him with their eyes as he returns.

"Here." He whispers.

"Can anyone start a fire?" Brave asks.

"I can." Raven offers, reaching out a hand. "Give them here."

A moment later the empath feels several long wax polls being dropped into her extended palm. She brings them so that they are just in front of her face, takes a breath, and breathes out a small tongue of flame.

The candles light up to reveal the group's shocked expressions.

"Daughter of a fire demon." She shrugs. "Comes with the territory."

Brave shakes his head and takes a candle. Each member of the group quickly follows suit, eager to have a light source at their disposal.

"Dudes!" Beast Boy says in a loud whisper as he holds the candle just under his face like one would with a flashlight. "This is cool!"

"Beast Boy." Raven deadpans.

"Yes Rae?" The changeling grins, still keeping the candle below his face.

"Your hair is on fire."

The green boy shrieks and drops his candle as he frantically pats at his head. Raven calmly envelopes the dropped light in a ball of energy to prevent it from setting something else on fire and places it in candle holder nearby.

"Dudes!" Beast Boy growls, holding his head and glaring at the rest of the group. "Who did that? Not cool!"

Everyone glances at Rude who whistles innocently.

"What?" The orange-caped boy asks innocently. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy says in mock anger as he pulls back an arm to punch. "A black eye!"

"Now, now ladies." Affection scolds, stepping between the two. "You're all pretty, so stop this nonsense at once."

"It seems _everyone_ wants a black eye." The changeling quips, grinning at the pink-caped boy.

"Count me out." Happy says, holding his hands up in front of his face and waving them slightly. "I had no part in this!"

"Can you all be serious for one second?" Shadow raises his voice, though it is still monotone, causing everyone to stop. "We're here to find Timid, not have a brawl."

"Right." Affection coughs, stepping back. "My bad."

"Who put you in charge?" Rude mutters, turning his back to the pale boy.

"Sorry Shadow." Beast Boy says sheepishly. "We're just-"

"Bored." The hero of Blacksoak says, completing the sentence. "And probably tired." His eyes lock with the shapeshifter's. "I am aware. I simply wish for focus now seeing as Timid may be in the area. Fooling around can happen later."

Brave nods approvingly. "I agree. That's something Robin would say."

"The last thing we need is another Robin." Raven groans. "I already have to deal with three. Or four if Brave counts."

"You make that sound like a bad thing." Brave scoffs.

"Oh, but it is." Beast Boy whispers to the empath as the Nightwing impostor starts giving search orders. The empath snorts her agreement before receiving an order from Brave and floating off down an aisle of books.

"Beast Boy." Brave calls. The shapeshifter is the last to receive an order. "Check the roof, I doubt he's there, but he won't exactly be in the right mindset so we never know."

"Aye, aye captain!" Beast Boy gives a mock salute and turns into a bat. He flutters up to the ceiling and fires off his echolocation. He falters when he realizes just how massive the library is. " _No wonder Brave felt the need to have an organized search, this room has to be at least half the size of a football field! I bet Raven loves it here. So many books..._ "

His small furry body soars through the rafters. His ears twitch as he hears voices filter up from below. He pauses midair as a foreign sound grabs his attention, but as soon as he tries to locate it the noise goes away.

" _That didn't sound right..._ " Beast Boy thinks. He starts flying in a spiral, expanding his search range gradually. " _I know I heard something. It sounded like circus music._ "

The green bat's search grew wider and wider, but no trace of the music could be found. When Brave calls everyone in, Beast Boy is the last to arrive. He only half listens as the Nightwing lookalike speaks. Even with a bat's hearing, the sound still eluded him!

"Timid isn't in here." Brave reports bluntly. "The other rooms of the house aren't as big as the library, since we should split up. Everyone should be in groups of two for this. It's too risky to be in separate rooms all alone. We don't want another Joker incident."

"But we _were_ together when Joker attacked." Rude points out. "Me, Happy, and Raven at the front, you, Shadow and Beast Boy at the back. It didn't exactly help us that much."

"Even so, it's still a good idea." Brave says defensively.

"Whatever."

"I'll go with Beast Boy!" Happy chirps.

"I shall join Raven if she will allow it." Affection offers, casting a glance at the empath.

Raven shrugs apathetically.

"I guess that means me, Rude and Shadow are the last group." Brave says, nodding. "Happy, BB, take the left side. Raven, Affection, the right. We'll take the rear."

"left and right relative to what?" Raven asks.

"The front door." Brave amends. "Right now, we're in the right side."

"Okay then." Beast Boy says with determination. "Let's do this dudes!"

"Meet back here in an hour." Brave calls as the two other groups split off to search.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Rude mutters quietly as the trio makes their way to the back of the house.

"Everyone keeps saying something along those lines, but I still don't see the problem." Shadow comments.

"Even so." Brave muses, leading the two others around a corner. "I wonder if Timid's causing this."

"Is there another option?" Shadow asks.

"Robin has so many mind monsters the possibilities are endless." Brave responds with a sigh as he opens the first door on his left and peers inside.

"Let's just hope for the best then." The hero of Blacksoak murmurs.

He glances down the hallway in both directions as the two emoticlones stick their heads inside every door they come across.

"It would be a shame if something bad were to happen."

* * *

 **Chapter 16 complete.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"What's with this place?" Beast Boy asks, sniffing the air. "It's just one weird thing after another."

Happy gives a strained smile. The pair had just entered the kitchen and had started searching cupboards and when the changeling had noticed something rather out of place.

Despite all the food in the room, he could catch the scent of water, algae, rock and fresh air.

Rather out of place considering they were in a mansion which, in turn, was inside of an closed-off labyrinth with stifling stale air.

The changeling walks slowly around the room, trying to find where the smell is coming from.

"H-Hey now." Happy laughs nervously. "Don't worry about it! I'm sure it's nothing. I mean, I've visited Timid enough times and _I_ never found anything out of place."

" _He's a terrible liar._ " Beast Boy thinks with faint amusement. Shaking his head, the shapeshifter pulls open a large cupboard at ground level and continues searching for Timid while abandoning the odd scent. " _Whatever, not my place to question._ "

Happy breaths a quiet sigh of relief. " _Thank the stars he didn't push for info. I can't let him know about the Batcave._ " He pauses his train of thought for a moment as he watches the shapeshifter yank open a cupboard above his head with one hand whilst lifting his candle with the other. " _I don't want to lie to him, but it's for the best._ "

###

"I sense magic." Raven informs her companion bluntly. It was all around them, soaked into the mansion like water in a sponge. Raven dares not squeeze it out though, for she fears the consequences of probing the arcane shields. "I couldn't sense it before because it feels so much like every other part of Robin's mind, but now I feel it: Shields, veils, illusions... This place is a virtual fortress of magic."

Affection shifts uncomfortably. His eyes flicked from the grandfather clock to his right and back to the empath standing before him.

The two are situated in a sitting room located just next to the library. They had only searched the room for a short time, and were about to move on when Raven had stopped.

"What in the mansion could warrant this level of protection?" The empath murmurs. "Or am I just over thinking this? It could easily be just because this is Robin's mind."

"Probably just over thinking." Affection says a bit too quickly. "Don't worry about it."

"Hmmm..."

The emoticlone was sweating. He hadn't minded the other Titans finding out about Wayne manor, but letting them find the Batcave would be disastrous. It was just his luck that Robin's mind also recreated the shields around the manor as well; now Raven was suspicious.

" _Just calm down Affection._ " The boy thinks to himself. " _She can sense emotions, so just chill out. Remember what Robin knows about blocking telepaths._ "

Raven ponders the arcane shields for a full minute, leaving Affection to sweat in worry. Eventually the empath sighs motions for the emoticlone to lead them to another room.

"It's none of my business." Raven explains curtly as the pink-caped boy walks past her. "But I know that you know what those shields are for." She says as she falls in behind him.

" _I'm lucky such understanding friends._ " Affection thinks, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He strides around a bend in the hallway as he leads Raven to game room. " _But I hate hiding it like this..._ "

###

"How odd."

Shadow's peculiar tone of voice catches Brave's attention. Intrigued was not a word the Nightwing lookalike would use often to describe the hero of Blacksoak, but it seemed to fit here.

Rather than his normally blank expression that would put even Raven's to shame, the pale boy sports a furrowed brow and the smallest of frowns as he kneels down next to the empty fireplace.

The group of three are located in a large office just past the bedrooms. The door had a rectangular discoloration near the top, as if a name plate had been removed. Aside from the fireplace, the room housed an expensive looking oak desk and tall windows with the red, silk curtains drawn.

"Now why would this brick in particular have a large indent in the back?"

Brave blanchs immediately. "Don't touch that."

"And why ever not?" The pale boy turns to look at the emoticlone with his normal dull expression, causing Brave to squirm. "Is here something I should be aware of?"

"No."

"Of course not." Shadow says, dropping his voice to the regular monotone. "I'm sure every house has random indentations on bricks in the back of a fireplace."

"Maybe the bricklayers dropped one and it got chipped." Rude grumbles. "Can we move on now? Or at least talk about something more interesting than _bricks_?"

The hero of Blacksoak turns his unnerving stare to Rude, who gazes back with a bored expression. This keeps up for a good minute with neither letting up.

Shadow breaks eye contact for a moment as he shrugs. "By all means," He says softly, gesturing to the door. His eyes return to Rude. "Lead on."

Brave shivers a bit upon hearing that line. The quiet voice combined with the piercing stare, even if not directed at him, are much to familiar for comfort. " _He can be damn creepy when he tries. Just like someone else I know._ "

Rude rolls his eyes in annoyance and walks casually out the door, taking the lead as suggested. Shadow follows right behind him, but slows for a moment to lock eyes with Brave.

" _I know you're hiding something._ " His eyes seem to say. The Nightwing lookalike is relieved of the pale boy's gaze when the door frame breaks eye contact.

Brave swallows thickly as he composes himself. He wipes sweat off his palms and takes a few deep breaths. " _Get a grip Brave. You're supposed to be fearless! Rude is managing better than you!_ " He can't help but shiver again when remembering the piercing stare. " _But that look... Too familiar. Raven and I were wrong, he doesn't resemble Robin. He's distinctly bat-like._ "

###

"Stars of flying rope!

Crowds full of hope!

Wires! Wires!

They all fall down!"

The voice is soft and echos, but is still shrill in Beast Boy's ear, from the tone of voice he guesses that the singer is shouting. It was some twisted and badly written version of Ring Around the Rosie.

What frustrates him is that he can't locate the direction it comes from. How loud the song was depends on where he stands, but it did not correlate with direction. The intensity flowed and ebbed as he walks along, regardless of whether he goes left or right, forwards or backwards. When he stands still the pitch is consistent.

To Beast Boy, it was like listening to the world's most quiet ghost choir while occasionally shoving pillows over your ears.

Happy, on the other hand, couldn't hear it at all.

"You're _positive_ you aren't hearing something else?" He asks for the umpteenth time, looking at his green companion with concern. "Not the wind, or the creaking of the mansion? It is rather old after all."

"I know what I hear." The changeling says stubbornly. His ears flick back and forth, still straining to determine the source. "Someone singing a weird version of Ring Around the Rosie"

"Right..." Happy says slowly. "Look, I know that there are a bunch of weird things in Robin's mind, but none of them sing. So unless it's Timid, you're probably just hearing things."

"Well _duh_." Beast Boy says, scowling. "Of course I thinks it's Timid! Why else would I be trying to find the source?"

"Because you like music?"

The shapeshifter gave Timid a dry look. "Seriously? That's the best you can come up with?"

"Sorry, I'm a bit... Frazzled."

"This doesn't have anything to do with whatever was freaking you out in the kitchen right?" Beast Boy asks suspiciously.

"No? Uhh, maybe? No guarantees." Happy guesses that Timid could be in the Batcave. That would explain why Beast Boy claimed the level of noise faded and intensified randomly. Echoes were tricky like that. "On second thought, probably."

"Joy." The green boy groans. "Does that mean I have to deal with more of your obvious lying?"

" _Ouch._ " Happy winces. "Well I'm not sure I'll be able to avoid telling you if Timid is where I think he is."

"Which is...?" Beast Boy motions impatiently for him to elaborate.

"I need to talk with the other emoticlones first." Happy mutters in slight embarrassment. "Sorry, don't want to reveal it if we don't have to."

"Fine." The shapeshifter sighs. "Let's go back to the meeting place. An hour is almost up anyways."

"Y-Yeah." The pink emoticlone stutters, feeling bad about how evasive he needs to be. " _This whole 'hiding a secret' thing sucks._ "

###

"Where are they?" Brave huffs in irritation. "They should've been back ten minutes ago."

The Nightwing and his group along with Beast Boy and Happy are all standing around in the library, candles in hand. Raven and Affection, on the other hand, were no where to be seen despite the agreement to meet at the library in an hour.

"It's not like Raven to be late." Beast Boy agrees.

"I'm sure she's fine." Happy chirps. "This is _Raven_ we're talking about. Super-powerful sorceress and Titan to boot, remember?"

"Oh yeah, being a Titan is really gonna score her points with Penguin or Clayface." Rude mutters dryly.

"Oh shush." Happy huffs with a small grin. "You know they wouldn't stand a chance anyways."

"You never know..."

"Thanks for the distressing note to an otherwise minor annoyance." Brave gives Rude a stern glare. "You really know how to put a damper on things."

"Timid isn't here so _someone_ has to do it." The crass emoticlone replies casually, leaning back against a desk while fiddling with his candle.

"And you just wanted to take one for the team, huh?" The Nightwing lookalike asks in an equally neutral tone. Beast Boy holds back a snicker. He knows exactly where this is leading.

"Yep, that's me." Rude chuckles, casting a lazy grin around the group. "All about being a team player."

"That's great to hear." Brave says cheerily. "I was just about to suggest one of us go looking for Raven and Affection, and seeing as you're so eager to take some for the team you won't mind looking around for them?"

Rude shoots him an irritated look. "Fine, fine. C'mon Shadow."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Brave waggles a finger. "I said _one_ person. No point splitting up the group any more than necessary now that we're back together, right?"

"Well-"

"Go on then, Mr. Team player." The Nightwing lookalike says dismissively. "Start your search; and do try to avoid any mind monsters that may be roaming about."

Rude goes slightly pale. "I'll pass."

"Really now?" Happy giggles, a twinkle in his eye. "What happened to taking one for the team?"

Rude's only response was a withering glare.

"But in all seriousness, we should probably start searching." Brave decides. He stands tall, a grim expression now on his face. "Beast Boy is right after all. Raven is _never_ late."

"As one group, or split up?" Shadow asks curtly. His eyes focusing lethargically on the emoticlone.

"One group." Brave orders. Everyone is quick to file in behind him. "Shadow, take the rear. Keep us safe with that night vision. Beast Boy, up here at the front next to me. Your hearing and smell are our best bet to finding Raven and Affection."

"Understood."

"You got it dude!"

"Let's move Titans." Brave says quietly. He and Beast Boy lead the way out of the library, and the search for their missing companions begins.

* * *

 **Chapter 17 complete.**

 **Raven and Affection go missing while searching, and everyone else goes on** _ **another**_ **search to find them. Lots of searching in this chapter, with a joke at Rude's expense near the end just to break up the serious atmosphere for a moment.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans or Batman: The Brave and the Bold.**

* * *

"Wakey Wakey!"

The slightly raspy voice sounds quietly in the empath's ear. It doesn't do her pounding headache any good either.

"C'mon Raven! Wake up!" The voice giggles, sounding rather unstable.

Trying not to groan in pain, Raven cracks her eyes open.

The first thing she sees is a teenaged boy, but no one familiar. He has jet black hair, peach colored skin, an athletic build and bright blue eyes with a maniac glint. He seems to be wearing a fancy purple two-tailed coat that is several sizes too large form him along with a top hat and the poofy tan pants they used to wear back in the medieval era.

"Who... Are you?"

"Me?" The boy giggles. "I'm the ringmaster!"

Raven has never been to a proper circus, but she's fairly sure ringmasters don't have pants like that. However, in the interest of not angering this nutcase, she refrains from commenting.

Trying to rise, Raven quickly finds out that she is tied to a chair. When she tries teleporting, the ropes light up and renders her magic useless.

Perfect. No really, just perfect.

The boy hums and walks behind Raven. She can hear him moving something around. The empath takes advantage of this situation to observe her surroundings.

" _A cave. Great, so I could be literally anywhere by this point._ " She sneers in irritation as her eyes continue scanning the cavern. " _Is that a giant coin? And a massive playing card? This guys has some weird taste in art._ " Glancing to the right, she could see several objects in display cases. " _That's probably a freeze blaster, that's a pair of fake teeth, and the last one is... a puppet with a tommy gun? What in Azar's name is this place? The museum of random objects?_ "

"You like the decoration?" The boy chirps, his grinning face slides back into view. "Came with the cave, I didn't have to spend a penny!"

"It's very... Tasteful." Raven says cautiously.

"I know right?! Whoever owned his place before me had great decorative skills!" He says cheerily.

"Not what I was going to say, but sure." The empath mutters under her breath. "Whatever make him happy."

"It even came with a supercomputer and stereo system!" The boy rambles. "Granted, it took me _forever_ to find the songs among all the police reports, chemical analysis and secret documents devoted to taking down the Justice League, but they were some pretty awesome songs, so it was worth it."

He pauses for a moment, considering something.

"You want to hear one? I'll still be setting up for a while."

"Well-"

"Great! Just give me a minute."

Raven sighs in resignation. " _Why me?_ "

###

 _There was a man from Gotham,_

 _In the Batmobile he rode._

 _Defending the defenseless,_

 _It's to him I sing this ode._

" _I swear, this place just loves random music. First the circus tune, then Ring Around the Rosie, and now a song about Batman?_ " Beast Boy thought this in no minor amount of irritation as he pokes his hear around a corner. He sniffs the air deeply, shakes his head, and continues onward. " _And top it all off, still no sign of Raven._ "

They had found Affection a few minutes ago lying in one of the bedrooms. He groggily claimed that he hadn't seen anyone or anything before falling unconscious. A few minutes and a clear head later, he amended that he had smelt something odd. Probably knockout gas.

There was also the issue of them having searched the mansion three times by his point. Affection had actually gone unnoticed the first two times because he was out of sight behind a bed. They made sure to check absolutely everywhere the second time around leaving no vase unturned, but Raven was nowhere to be found.

The shapeshifter also had the distinct impression that the other emoticlones knew where Raven was. The fact that Brave was locked in a fervent discussion with Rude and Affection instead of leading the group combined with Happy's constant twitching was proof enough for that. Beast Boy was hoping they would just come out and say it soon. He didn't want to push them, but Raven was in trouble and he didn't appreciate the time they were wasting.

He was giving them two minutes, tops. Then he throttled them until they told him where Raven was.

"It's about time you three stopped gossiping and led us to Raven. I'm giving you five seconds."

Or Shadow could do it for him. That works too.

###

 _-wore the grey and blue!_

Raven was never going to get that song out of her head ever again. She was fairly sure it had only been playing for ten minutes or so, but it felt like a lifetime.

All the while the insane boy behind her was setting up for the "show". The empath knew enough about being captured to know that the "show" was not going to fit into one's typically definition of fun.

It was probably going to very painful, and most likely a deathtrap.

Granted, she couldn't actually _see_ what he was making, but it was a fair assumption. Why else would she be tied to a chair with her magic blocked?

Then again, she was talking about someone who was quite possibly insane. So the assumption that he was going to do something terrible might not even be valid.

" _Stop thinking about this, I'm just confusing myself._ "

Raven lets out a deep sigh. She hopes that someone would find her before the boy started his "show". It may not necessarily be bad, but she doesn't want to risk it.

"Squeak."

The empath blinks hard and shakes her head. If she didn't know that Robin's mind was void of vermin, she could have sworn that she heard-

"Squeeeeeak!"

Raven glances to her shoulder to see a small green rat waving at her.

"About time."

"Squeak."

"Couldn't have been any quicker?"

"Squee, squeak, squeak, squee."

Raven feels a rush of power flow through her veins as Beast Boy gnaws through the last of her bonds. He hops to the ground and shifts back to human form.

"I mean, Brave was against telling us about this place. He was desperate. It took Shadow a good three minute to make him tell us." The shapeshifter rambles, apparently picking up from what he was saying in rat form.

"Intimidate Brave? Now that's a feat!" The boy behind Raven says cheerfully.

Beast Boy tenses automatically as his eyes fixated onto the boy. He did capture Raven after all.

"Did you come to see the show?" The boy asks politely.

"Well-"

"Of course you did. Feel free to invite the others over, I can see them hiding behind that pillar. I mean, that is probably the most obvious spot in the whole cave. I thought my clones would know better."

Beast Boy's ears droop as he waves the rest of the group over. He was the one who suggested that hiding place...

"Though did you have to free Raven? I mean, seriously?" The boy questions, seeming slightly annoyed.

"Dude! You captured her!"

"Well yeah. How else am I supposed to make a joke about having a captive audience?" The boy says indignantly. "You ruined part of my act!"

"Act?"

"Duh! What do you think the high-wire is for?" The boy gestures to the towering structure above him.

"I don't get it." Beast Boy says slowly, eyeing it carefully. He was no architect, but he was fairly sure that the wood shouldn't be sticking out like that, and all that duct tape wasn't exactly reassuring...

"High flying comedy? C'mon, I thought you were the master of jokes!"

"That was more of a pun."

"Details, details."

"Timid!" Brave interrupts the two as he comes storming over. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I just explained this to Beast Boy." The emoticlone complains. "You should have been here."

"Well, considering we didn't know you were here at all. That isn't exactly fair to say." Brave says curtly. "Explain. Now."

"I'm putting on a show, and wanted to make a joke about having a captive audience." Timid says in clear annoyance. "I better not have to explain this again."

"You knocked out our friend and tied her to a chair just to make a joke?" Brave asks dangerously.

"Yes."

"If you weren't crazy thanks to Mod, I would slap you."

"Get in line." Raven grumbles. She had patiently been awaiting a chance to interject. "I was the one he tied up, so I get the first punch if we find a legitimate reason."

"Look, would you all mind just sitting down and letting me tie you up? I want to get on with this show already!" Timid yells in annoyance.

"Umm, how 'bout no?" Rude offers, crossing his arms with a glare.

"Too bad, I insist!" Timid hisses.

He pulls out a small remote and hits a button. Almost instantly the floor of the cave lights up and Timid leaps up high before landing on the top of a massive supercomputer behind where Raven had been tied.

An electric shock surges through the floor, dropping the entire group on a matter of moments.

"Honesty." Timid chuckles to himself. He picks a piece of lint off his cape. "I'm surprised Brave didn't think of that. He's not Knowledge, but still."

"That may be so, but it won't really matter." A calm voice says. Timid looks up, surprised to see anyone still standing.

"Wha?" He gasps. "How are you still up?"

"Pain really doesn't affect me. Actually, make that pretty much everything." The hero of Blacksoak says in monotone. "I'll be stopping you now if you don't mind."

"HA-no." Timid hammers another button on his remote. There comes a loud roar from his left and a large armored car barrels into Shadow, pinning him against the wall. "There we go, everyone's ready! Though I'm starting to think you don't want me to perform."

The hero of Blacksoak strains against the heavy car. He squirms and shoves, but just can't budge the tank-like vehicle.

"Oh don't bother." Timid laughs as he picks up Raven and Beast Boy. "The Tumbler is way too powerful for you to move."

"Put them down." Shadow says coldly, his eyes boring into the emoticlone.

"Nah." Timid chuckles as he hauls the two Titans up his rickety high wire platform. "Ya see, I need these guys for the performance. The captive audience joke is all well and good, but I can't pass up an opportunity like this!"

"What opportunity?"

"The chance for a recreation!" The flamboyant boy's eyes shine with a maniac light when he looks down to regard Shadow from the top of his tower. "The most important event in Robin's life, recreated before our eyes! What an opportunity! I should be selling tickets!"

"I somewhat doubt you'd get an audience inside of Robin's head." The hero of Blacksoak remarks dryly. "Not enough people, too many villains. Terrible business really. Ever consider hero work? Much more rewarding if you ask me."

"There's the catch though." Timid chirps brightly as he ties Raven's feet to a bar attached by wires to the ceiling. The structure he is standing on sways dangerously for a moment, causing him to stagger. One hand flies to his head to keep the top hat from falling off. "I didn't ask you. So your point is moot."

"I'm fairly sure not asking for the advice doesn't make it invalid."

"Perhaps." Timid muses. He begins tying Beast Boy's hands to Raven's. "But I live for the show! This is a form of art you see! I can't just give up my passion! The circus calls to me!"

"A circus? Where are the elephants, the clowns, the tigers!? Surely you _must_ have tigers." At this point Shadow is just trying to stall for time. Clearly Timid isn't listening to reason.

"What?" The emoticlone gives the pale boy a smug smile. "Not trying to talk me out of it anymore?"

" _Damn it_."

"No matter really. I need everyone to be awake to watch the show anyways. By all means, keep talking." Timid waves a hand dismissively as he fixes his coat and hat. "We still have about a dozen minutes to kill."

A dozen minutes of being totally helpless to stop your friends from being killed. Shadow may have been mostly incapable of emotion, but he could tell these were going to be the longest twelve minutes of his life.

* * *

 **Chapter 18 complete. So, I got Fire Emblem Fates a few days ago. (It's good, not as good as Awakening, but good) I'm considering making a few fics about it. But, knowing how infrequently I do** _ **anything**_ **nowadays it's probably a long shot, but we'll see.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

" _Getting knocked out better not be a common theme._ " Raven thinks to herself as she regains consciousness. " _Twice in less than an hour... That can't be good for me._ "

Raven tries to rise, but just like last time she finds herself stuck. She also figures out that she is lying on her back this time, but her feet seem suspended in the air.

"Chop chop."

The empath twists her head upon hearing Timid speak and gives a yell of surprise when she sees an axe swinging towards her head. She flinchs visibly when the weapon slices the air beside her face and severs the tightrope only a few inches away.

"The high wire act is being _cut short_ to make way for the acrobats!" Timid announces happily as he tosses the hatchet down to the floor. She gives Raven a toothy grin. "How does it feel to be part of the show?"

"Painful." Raven replies bluntly. "Too much electricity."

"Yes, well; it was necessary. The audience was getting unruly, and a good host knows how to keep them in line! We don't want anything interrupting your act, now do we?"

Raven struggles to pull her feet off the bar attached to the ceiling. She has no wish to fly without using her powers. "I'd much rather not. How about you do it instead? I'm sure you are much more capable." She says this while trying to move her hands and casting a spell. The spell fails, and she finds herself hands also bound to something she can't see above her head. " _Just great._ "

"Still, I must make space for others to shine!" Timid says with a lopsided grin. "I can't take all the spotlight, now can I?"

Raven decided _not_ to mention that he was contradicting himself. "Alright, but what about your highwire act? Don't you need a wire for that? Like the one you just cut?"

"I already told you it was cut short." Timid frowns. "You're just stalling now, aren't you?"

"Well-"

"Well let's not delay any further then!" The emoticlone shouts cheerfully. "The audience has already awoken, and your partner is almost ready!"

"Partner?"

"Ugh..." Raven attempts to tilt her head upwards to find the source of the noise. It's only then that she realizes that she is actually being suspended from the bar upside-down when her head strains against the wooden floor. "Wha-? Rae? What's going on?"

"Excellent!" Timid cheers. "Just let me introduce you to the audience." He struts to the edge of the platform, his two-tailed coat flapping in ridiculous fashion. "Gentleman and boys! I welcome you to my show!"

The so-called "audience" of emoticlones and Shadow glares up at the crazy boy. Each member has their mouth taped shut so that they can't interrupt and all but the hero of Blacksoak are tied to a stalagmite or something similar.

"Today we recreate history! Today these two daring individuals will honor the memory of the Flying Graysons by performing the act they failed!" Timid makes a sweeping gesture towards Raven and Beast Boy.

The shapeshifter is much more active now that he's awake. He snarls behind Timid's back as he tries to bite at the rope binding Raven's hands to his seeing as his shifting won't work, but is quite shocked to find he can't dent the bindings. The rope looks and feels like hemp, but is in fact metal.

"Granted." Timid says with a shake of his head. "Due to their lack of skill I needed to make a guide for them." He motions to the rope trying them together. "This will make sure they perform perfectly!" His hand lowers to indicate Raven. "First, we have the mistress of magic, the dark terror: Raven!"

"' _The dark terror?' What is this, wrestling?_ " Raven fumes indignantly.

"And next we have her partner, the master of morphing, the animal king: Beast Boy!"

"Dude! Did you hear that? I'm a king!" The shapeshifter crows.

"Joy." Raven grumbles, her eyes darting around looking for something, _anything,_ to help them. "Now think of something fast! He's going to push us off the edge, and I don't think this line will hold!"

Beast Boy didn't speak for a moment as he thought. They could both hear Timid continue his grandstanding in the background.

"I have an idea." Beast Boy says suddenly. "When I say 'Now', throw your weight backwards."

"Off the platform?" Raven asks in disbelief.

"Yes."

"I don't thi-"

"Raven." The shapeshifter interrupts. "You trust me right?"

"Well..."

"Raven?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

"Then just wait for my signal and do as I said."

"Alright..."

Timid's voice suddenly booms in their ears. "And without further ado, here we go!"

Raven, despite her emotionless facade, can't help but flinch in fear when the emoticlone starts pushing her off the platform. She can see his maniacal grin beaming down on her from above as her head grates along the floor. Sweat breaks out on her face when her back slides out over open air.

" _Any time now Beast Boy._ " She pleads as her head leaves the wooden floor and falls a few inches. At this point she is completely off the platform, she can hear the wires groaning under her weight. It's only thanks to Beast Boy still being on the platform that she hasn't started swinging yet.

With her head now capable of its normal range of motion, she can see (albeit upside-down) Beast Boy pull his legs close to his body before snapping them out upwards and wrapping them around a startled Timid before he can react. Anticipating her partner's command, Raven pulls her body up as high as she can. The ropes chaff her wrists, but she only needs to hold the position for a second.

"Now!"

The empath throws her weight backwards. The extra height gained from pulling herself up helps to drag Beast Boy, and by extension Timid, off the platform and out into the air.

Snap!

The supporting wires give out almost immediately under the strain of three people. Raven's stomach lurchs as her momentum turns from a swing to a fall.

"Augh!" Timid screechs. His hands fly to his waist as he pulls out a grapple gun from a utility belt under his costume. He fires it off quickly and it embeds itself into the ceiling.

The sudden shock of stopping doesn't do many favors for Raven's stomach, but she is plenty happy to have _not_ splattered all over the floor. Rather, the three are hanging only a couple meters above it.

"Damn you both!" Timid snarls, glaring down at the two Titans, one of which still has his legs around the emoticlone's waist. "You ruined the act!"

"Well excuuuse me princess!" Beast Boy snarks. "But I didn't sign up for a death trap!"

Timid growls in anger as he tries to kick the green boy off of him. It doesn't prove that hard, but Beast Boy and Raven manage to land quite safely.

Releasing the grapple, Timid drops down beside them. His eyes blaze with rage as he stomps over. A loud smacking noise can be heard, and the emoticlone drops to the floor.

"Been wanting to do that for a long time." Rude sneers, dropping the sodden board he had ripped off Timid's unstable structure. He pulls out a birdarang and cuts the bonds holding the two Titans.

"You got free?" Beast Boy asks incredulously as he rubs his wrists.

"Duh." The brown-caped boy snorts. "Robin has gadgets hidden all over his body, so we clones do as well. I just slipped out a birdarang from my gloves and cut the ropes."

The green boy scowls. "Couldn't you have done it earlier and saved us?"

"Nah." Rude shrugs. "Timid was keeping an eye on us."

"Right..." Beast Boy says in faint disbelief.

"So." Raven says loudly. Drawing attention to herself. "What do we do about him?" She points to Timid.

"Wait 'till he wakes up?" Rude suggests with another shrug. "I mean, who knows? Maybe getting hit in the head cured him."

"I don't suppose anyone else has an idea?" Raven casts a glance at the group. All the other emoticlones, Beast Boy, and Shadow don't have anything to offer and just look back blankly. The empath groans in annoyance. "I guess we wait then."

###

Training kicks in as soon as he regains consciousness. His eyes snap open and he rolls to his feet, pulling out his bo-staff in the process.

He quickly searches his surroundings, noting the spiked archway behind him, the cave directly in front, and two doors: one plain metal, one ornate wood, off to either side.

He also takes in the floating rocks that compose the floor along with the endless black void below and above him.

Not seeing and immediate threat does little to calm the martial artist. He keeps his staff out as he tries to remember what happened last.

" _An alert. We went to Canada; Blacksoak right? Shadow called us in. The city was changing, we got attacked by Mod... Nothing. I'm drawing a blank here. What happened next? Did he beat us?_ "

"Hey look! It's Robin!"

The martial artist spins around at the sound of someone's voice. "Raven? Is that you?"

"Yes! Umm... Maybe? Kinda! Definitely kinda!" The girl chirps as she dashes over to him, skidding to a stop only inches away.

Robin can't help but notice the glaring differences between this girl and who she claims to maybe, sorta be. The attitude is definitely all wrong, but the pink cloak is what tips him off the most.

"I'm gonna say no." Robin leaps back and levels the end of his staff at the girl. "Tell the truth, who are you?"

"I was telling the truth!" She pouts. Her arms are straight at her sides with fists curled in exaggerated anger. "I'm part of Raven!"

"Part of Raven?"

"Joy to be exact."

Robin blinks hard as he tries to process this information. Now that this "Joyful Raven" had mentioned it, he did remember Raven saying something about mind clones.

But of course, the would mean...

"I'm in Raven's mind?!"

"Well, no. Raven's mind is over there." She points to the spiked archway. "This is the bridge between minds."

"Right." Robin doesn't sound very convinced, but he retracts his staff nonetheless.

"Anyways. If you're here, that means Rae and BB and Shadow should be back within the hour." The emoticlone says cheerfully. "Then you can go help Cy and Star!"

Robin finds it quite unnerving to hear any version of Raven using nicknames.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a portal to open."

Robin watches as the clone walks to the edge of the main rock; he half expects her to fall off but a series of smaller rocks rise up from the abyss to form a pathway leading out to nowhere. The pink girl strides purposefully down the path and stops at the end.

Despite the distance, Robin can hear the sound carried over.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zera, Hertan, Zinthos!" The girl stick out a hand which is crackling with dark magic. True to her word, a small portal opens. It shows trees and undergrowth and Robin can hear the chirping of birds and insects. "Oh, by the way!" The girl turns to face the martial artist and yells back at him. "Don't tell Raven I'm doing this! She'd flip!" With that said, she quickly spins around and steps through he portal, which closes behind her.

Robin just blinks. He has no idea what just happened.

"Well." He groans after a second, sitting down cross-legged on the floor. "I guess I just wait for Raven and Beast Boy now." He massages his temples. "Hopefully my new-found headache will be gone by then. This place makes no sense..."

* * *

 **Chapter 19 complete. Was that anti-climactic? Did you all understand what happened? This chapter worries me in so many ways... Bah, whatever. Robin's back! Yay!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

Robin isn't quite sure how long it took, but Raven, Beast Boy, and Shadow arrive eventually. They emerge from the cave directly in front of him. For all the world, the martial artist would claim it looks like the two pale Titans are guarding Beast Boy due to their almost identical costumes.

" _Cloaked bodyguards._ " Robin thinks to himself as he smiles and rises to greet his friends. " _Wouldn't be the first time I've seen that._ "

"Dude! You have no idea how good it is to see you!" Beast Boy yells excitedly, waving his hands erratically.

"I'm sure you'll tell me in a second." Robin quips. He raises a hand in greeting as well. "But first, would someone mind explaining to me exactly where we are?"

"Long story short," Raven sighs. "You all got knocked out so I pulled us back to the Tower. When everyone didn't wake up I jumped into your minds using the council spell."

"We just spent hours in your head fixing all your clones dude." Beast Boy says. "And then Brave kicked us out. I think we saw something he didn't want us to."

"The cave under the mansion?" Raven offers dryly. "Or maybe the fact that Robin's eyes are blue?"

The martial artist could feel sweat gathering on the back of his neck. Just how much had they discovered?

"Or maybe it was it was the supercomputer." The shapeshifter muses.

"The one you almost destroyed?" The empath snarks.

"It was an accident!"

"We weren't even in a fight and you almost froze it!"

"Hey! How was I supposed to know it was a freeze gun?"

Shadow silently rolls his eyes to the sky. " _Only you Big Brother..."_

"He told you not to touch it!"

"I thought he meant the doll thing!"

Robin shakes his head. He knows exactly what they are talking about. " _Note to self: Never let Beast Boy in the Batcave._ " He clears his throat. " _Anyways._ What exactly are we supposed to do?"

"Free Starfire and Cyborg. Duh." Beast Boy says in a tone that suggests it should be obvious.

"I think he's asking how." Raven says dryly. She looks at the martial artist. "We need to find their emoticlones and make sure they are acting in line with their respective emotions."

"I don't get it." Robin informs her bluntly. "But it's worked already if Shadow and Beast Boy are any indicator, so I'll take your word."

"That's all I ask." The empath nods.

"Alright then. Who next?" The martial artist asks, glancing at the remaining paths. He is surprised to see that the cave has disappeared. " _Granted, the jungle that Raven's clone went into disappeared as well. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised._ "

"We were thinking Star." The shapeshifter offers. "Now that we got you back, she should be a breeze."

Robin raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment. He just motions for Raven to lead.

Teammates in town, the empath struts down the path to the ornate door. It's gold and green design glimmers eerily against the otherwise dark backdrop.

At the rear of the group, Robin speaks in hushed tones with the hero of Blacksoak.

"Just how much did you find out?" The martial artist questions, looking suspicious.

"A cave under a mansion which we accessed through a fireplace." The pale boy replies calmly, staring straight ahead rather than at Robin. "Several strange objects on display, some in glass cages. Several iterations of the Batmobile, one of which was referred to as "the Tumbler", and a supercomputer." He pauses for a moment before giving the martial artist and swift glance. "I also saw a few old costumes on display. Getting the tights was a good call."

Robin flushes red, remembering his ridiculous former outfit. "Well, it seems like you guys saw quite a bit then. But no names?"

Shadow shook his head slightly. "The name on the office door was scratched off, and there wasn't anything else that would normally display a name."

Robin gives a sigh of relief. "Good. Batman would have my hide if you guys found out."

The hero of Blacksoak quirks the side of his mouth into a resemblance of a grin, though it strikes Robin as looking slightly insincere: more like a mask than a true expression.

"Well." Raven says firmly, catching he martial artist's attention. Robin looks away from Shadow to see that large double-doors in front of him. Intricate designs are etched into the frame. "Let's get this over with."

"That's what you said when we went into Robin's mind." Beast Boy mutters under his breath.

"And I stand by it." The empath grumbles as she pushes on the doors. Despite their size, Raven has no issues opening them. "I want this done."

Behind the doors is a long stone hallway decorated in royal burgundys and golds. Tapestries furnish the walls with depictions of battles and wars long since past. The hall is tall and wide, making the Titans feel rather small as they take a few steps inside.

"Not exactly what I was expecting." Beast Boy says after a moment. "Honestly, I was thinking more pink."

The others can't help but nod.

"Correct me if I'm wrong." Shadow murmurs, inspecting the nearest tapestry. "But isn't Starfire royalty? I think she mentioned it when she came to visit."

"You're right." Robin confirms. "I almost forgot about that."

"Now that I'm thinking about it, this place reminds me of the palace on Tamaran." Raven says. "Back when she was getting married, remember?"

"I try not to." The martial artist mutters under his breath. "But yeah, it does look like that."

"Dude, I wonder if her whole mind is like this. Only Raven's really seems to be different for each clone." Beast Boy muses aloud. "I mean, Rob's was mostly just a giant cave, and Rae said that mine was all jungle."

"Only one way to find out." Robin sighs. "Let's move Titans."

The group set off down the hallway. Their footsteps masked by the thick carpet below them. They glance at the tapestries as they walk by, observing the stick-like depictions of ancient heroes woven into the fabric.

Quite quickly the Titans stumble across an obstacle: a large throne room which they enter through the side. The room is absolutely massive, and brings back some uncomfortable memories for the Titans. The main issue is the several exits; them being the large main doors off to the right (not unlike the doors used to enter Starfire's mind in the first place), three exits visible across the room, two to their left along the same wall, and one behind the throne.

"Seven options," Raven mutters from the back of the group. "And presumably eight emoticlones. So is there something we're missing?"

"Let's worry about it later." Robin says. "Focus on what we can do, not what we can't." His eyes flicked to Raven. "We do have time, right?"

The empath nods. "A few days if needed."

"No real hurry then." Beast Boy says with a grin.

"Sure." Raven says dryly. "Waking our friends up from a hypnosis-induced coma is no big problem at all."

"Well when you put it that way..."

"So," Robin interrupts. "Which way do we go?"

"Does it really matter?" Beast Boy questions. "We have no idea where any of them lead."

"Let's just start from the right then." Shadow suggests. "That way we always know which ones we've explored."

"Good a plan as any." Robin says wryly. He looks at the large double-doors and takes a deep breath. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Raven sighs.

"Let's go dudes!" Beast Boy chirps as he bounds over to the doors. The green boy pulls mightily on one of the handles, and the door swings open with an ominous creek.

Beyond the doors is another pathway decorated with the same gold and burgundy color scheme. The difference is the tapestries. No longer depicting great heroes and wars, the large swaths of cloth now show scenes of relaxation and rest. The Titans can see lavish rooms filled with silken sheets where stick-like figures rest and eat what they presume to be delicacies (honestly, it's hard to tell; all the food looks disgusting).

As they near a bend in the hallway, a specific tapestry catches Beast Boy's eye.

"Dudes, check this out!" He cries, pointing at the picture. The others gather around for a better look.

At first it doesn't seem that remarkable, just more stick figures, but as they continue to observe they realize just what drew the attention of their green friend.

The four stick figures each have something special about them. One is bright green, one has a mask, one wears a small blue cape, and the last has a glowing red dot on its face.

"It's us." Robin whispers, his fingers tracing the masked figure.

"Correction: It's you guysand Cyborg." Shadow says. His eyes wander the piece, noting the large black square in the background. "I think this is at Titans Towers." He points to the square. "That must be the television."

"I think me and Cy are playing video games." Beast Boy muses. "We seem to be holding something, and our legs are facing the tv."

"I'm reading the Book of Azar." Raven whispers. "I know because the book is white."

"And I'm just watching." Robin chuckles. "My stick figure is that largest; heck, you can only really see the head. Maybe I'm standing next to whoever made this."

"I wonder what this means." Beast Boy mutters, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"A memory perhaps?" Shadow suggests, shrugging his shoulders. "A dream or a wish?"

"Any of those make sense." Raven says, looking away from the picture. "I have a library in Knowledge's domain to store my thoughts and dreams, Starfire's mind probably stores them in these tapestries."

"So we're, like, looking at her thoughts?" Beast Boy asks.

"Pretty much."

"We should probably move on then." Robin urges. "I know I wouldn't want anyone peering into my memories, friends or not."

"Agreed." Raven says.

Tearing themselves away from the wall, the Titans proceed around the bend. A single door lies only a few meters in front of them. Unlike the other doors that they have seen, this one seems to be made of marble, but is decorated around the edges with light brown patterns; almost like henna drawings, but on a door instead of skin.

Taking a deep breath, Robin grips the handle and pushes open the door. The group immediately ducks when a table is thrown at their heads.

"NOT HEAVY ENOUGH!" A familiar voice roars. "I REQUIRE MORE WEIGHT!"

"I thought girls liked getting _thinner_." Beast Boy jokes quietly, hiding behind his younger brother when the pale boy rises to his feet.

"Yay, stereotypes." Shadow mutters dully while dusting off his cloak.

"Five bucks says it's Rage." Robin whispers. He is pressed up against the doorframe and peering around the edge. "I can't see her though. There's a mountain of stuff in the way."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Raven snaps, also hiding behind Shadow. "Good stop her?"

"Why me?" Robin scowls.

"Because she likes you." Shadow says bluntly. "Now go."

The martial artist gives his teammates a dirty look as he carefully steps into the doorway.

"Oh, and it's not Rage." The pale boy says casually. "All the clones are acting out of sorts, so it can't be her."

"Who then?" Robin hisses.

"I don't know." Shadow shrugs. "Take your best guess?"

"I hate you so much right now."

"I'm sure you could ask Star for a hug to make you feel better. Now stop stalling, oh fearless leader." The hero of Blacksoak snarks. He waves a hand at the door. "Shoo."

Muttering under his breath, Robin takes a few tentative steps into the room. His footsteps are muffled by the copious amounts of silken sheets strewn about the floor, mostly pinks, oranges, and browns.

" _Literally bathing in silk._ " Robin thinks to himself as he pushes a deep pink sheet draped from the ceiling out of his way. " _Now... Who are you?_ "

Peering around the mountain of stuff (which actually consists of several stacked chairs, a bed, and a few dozen sheets) Robin can see the raging figure of Starfire who is currently lifting yet another table over her head. He also notes that her hair seems to be brown rather than its normal red-orange.

" _Is she doing squats?_ " Robin asks himself, raising an eyebrow. He watches in faint amusement as the tall girl holds the table above her head while doing the exercise. " _No wonder she wanted more weight, nothing in this room is anywhere near heavy enough to challenge her._ "

He draws back when the girls flings the table to the side with a growl, impacting the wall behind him.

" _Okay Rob, you can do this._ " He gulps. " _Just don't think about the fact that you have no idea which emotion she is supposed to be, and the fact that she is at least fifty times stronger than you._ "

Taking another deep breath as the clone picks up a chair, Robin steps out from behind his hiding place.

* * *

 **Chapter 20 complete. Well, that's a crappy cliffhanger if I've ever seen one. Do I care? No, not really.**

 **It took me half a week just to decide which clone to use. I'm pretty sure you can figure who I decided, it's not like they're color-coded or anything.**

 **Except Robin's Rude and Sloth, and Beast Boy's Brave, and Shadow just lacking more than two clones total.**

 **Okay, maybe I haven't been too consistent. Sue me. I didn't want to make BB's Brave green because BB is already green, and blue is the leftover color (because Raven is blueish, and none of her clones are blue, so it made sense) as for Robin's clones... I just slipped up and made an excuse; and Shadow is Shadow *Cough* shamelessOCinsert *Cough*.**

 **I'm considering changing his name. Shadow, and his full title "The Night Shadow" just sounds stupid in retrospect. I need something fitting though.**

 **I also want to change his costume, he's a blatant rip off of Raven right now. But anything else that comes to mind resembles another character too much. Grr...**

 **Anyhow. Hope this chapter wasn't a complete letdown.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Teen Titans.**

* * *

"Star?" Robin calls cautiously to the raging clone as he steps out from behind the mound. "What are you doing?"

The brown-haired girl, who was about to grab yet another chair from her left, pauses in surprise at the Boy Wonder's appearance. Her hand leaves the chair and she lunges towards the hero, catching him off guard.

Robin fails to dodge the clone's quick grab and finds himself hoisted in the air above her head as she holds him with two hands.

"You will have to do." The girl grunts. She starts her exercise again, much to Robin's disbelief, but halts after only half a dozen repetitions. "No, no, no!" She snarls. The clone switches her grip so that Robin is being held in one hand at his collar. He is lowered down to eye level with the annoyed girl. "You are too light!" She says accusingly.

"Of course I am." Robin says calmly. His apprehension is betrayed by the tight grip he keeps on the girl's arm, hopefully to keep her from throwing him like furniture. "I wouldn't be doing half as much as I do if I were two hundred pounds."

The brown-haired girl snorts in annoyance as she scans the room. "Is Cyborg with you? Perhaps he would be of adequate weight."

"No, he's indisposed as the moment." Robin responds. Tentatively, he asks: "Could you put me down now? Preferably without throwing me across the room."

"Would you rather I throw you elsewhere?" The girl asks, cocking her head while giving him an inquisitive look. "Why do you desire to be thrown at all?"

Robin can't help but note how fast her angry disposition faded into naive curiosity. "I don't want to be thrown!" He says, waving his hands in denial. "But after seeing how you trashed all the chairs and tables, I was worried you would do the same to me!"

"Oh Robin." She giggles. "Do not be ridiculous. You are far too frail to throw! I would not wish to break you!"

"Uhh... Thanks; I think?" Robin says weakly as the girl places him gently on the silk-covered floor. " _Do I really seem that fragile?_ "

"You are most welcome." She beams. "Now, what brings you to Starfire's mind?"

Robin blinks in slight surprise. He didn't expect the clone to know she was in someone's mind. "Well, Raven says that Starfire's emoticlones are behaving unusually. So we need to fix them. You were the first we found."

"Were are the others?" She floats into the air, looking around for her friends.

"Here." Raven says in monotone as she and the others emerge from the doorway. They quickly navigate the silken floor and around the giant pile of stuff into the clone's line of sight.

"Welcome friends!" Starfire's clone chirps. Raven can't help but notice the lack of her usual death hug. "It is good to be meeting you all in person!"

"You too." Beast Boy says with a grin. "Wish it weren't because we're saving Star; but hey! Better now than never."

"Every telepath ever would probably disagree." Raven mutters under her breath.

"Please," the clone says hesitantly, turning to Robin. "You said there was something wrong with me? I am unusual?"

"Well... Which emotion are you?" Robin asks.

"I am Sloth."

"Wouldn't you say lifting weights is unusual for a clone that's supposed to be lazy?" The martial artist inquires.

"I-Well-Umm..." Sloth frowns as she thinks this over. "You are correct. That does not seem like an activity that one who enjoy laziness would partake in."

"Exactly." Raven says firmly, taking over. "Mod's attack messed with Starfire's mind, making you and your brethren act out of character."

"Oh." Sloth mutters. "So I can return to my usual state of inactivity?"

"Yes." The empath says bluntly.

"Many thanks." The brown-haired girl sighs in relief. She doesn't bother to find a suitable spot before letting herself fall into the silk sheets strewn about the floor. "Trying to find something heavy enough to be worth my time was impossible. Now I do not need to be worrying." She pauses. "I am not aware why I started to lift objects in the first place."

"Unsurprising." Shadow says in a flat tone. "It was probably just an impulse driven by Mod's attack. Nothing that would have struck you as strange. It didn't occur to at least half, if not all of Robin's clones."

"I do not care, for I am tired now." Sloth yawns. "But thank you for explaining."

"I guess we'll move on then." Robin says, eyeing the sleepy girl as she tugs one of the many silk sheets over her lanky form. "Bye Sloth."

"Bye bye Robin." She murmurs, closing her eyes.

"Hey! What am I? Chopped liver?" Beast Boy exclaims indignantly. Raven directs a disapproving look in his direction and walks out of the room. She reaches back and pulls the shapeshifter along when he doesn't follow; he was instead trying to complain more.

Shaking his head and chuckling, Robin follows. He distinctly hears Raven muttering something about Beast Boy being an "attention hog" followed by loud protests by the shapeshifter in question.

Shadow silently brings up the rear of the group. His cloak throws his entire face in darkness as he listens to the three other Titans arguing and chatting.

"I expected that to take longer." Robin says loudly, interrupting Raven and Beast Boy's argument. "Convincing her was surprisingly easy."

"Of course it was easy ." Raven sighs. "It was the lazy clone, and it's not like she had a reason to be pumping weights in the first place. Not all Star's clones will be that easy."

"Way to be a downer Rae." Beast Boy says while shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"So." Shadow says quietly, grabbing everyone's attention. "We just keep to the right; therefore, that door is next."

The group looks up upon hearing the pale boy's question, only just realizing they had entered the throne room once more. They turn their heads and follow Shadow's pointed finger to the closest of the three doors opposite of where they had originally entered the room.

"Right." Robin mutters as he takes the lead, his team trailing behind. "Another clone, a whole new brand of crazy. Oh joy."

"Cheer up." Beast Boy chirps, grinning. "Maybe it'll be Affection. Then you two can spend some 'quality time' trying to get her back to normal."

Robin gives the green boy a dangerous look before stalking through the doorway. This hallway is just like the last one: gold and burgundy color scheme and filled with tapestries.

Remembering that these are Starfire's thoughts and memories, most of the group doesn't bother to look at them. Shadow is the only exception. He spares a glance at several of the elaborate cloth art pieces, scanning for commonalities and whispering apologies to Starfire for searching her mind.

He isn't disappointed. A cursory look at the tapestries reveals scenes of merry-making and celebration. It doesn't take a genius to make the connection. The last hallway had scenes of relaxation, and Sloth was the clone encountered. Therefore, presuming Starfire's mind works the same way for each emoticlone, this hallway would probably lead them to Happy.

" _Affection might fit I suppose._ " The pale boy muses. " _But Happy is the most likely._ "

"Well." Beast Boy says softly, glancing back at Raven and Shadow. "At least there don't seem to be any traps or anything. Just a bunch of hallways."

"It's unusual." Raven mutters softly in response. "My mind has so many traps I've lost count, your mind had lots of rough terrain, and Robin's was incredibly dark with many twisting pathways, but Starfire's is so... Open. Almost like it welcomes our presence."

"Dude, why would she _want_ us in her mind?" Beast Boy questions.

"Not so much "want" as "not activity opposed"." Raven says dryly. "The rest of us subconsciously value privacy too much to let an invader, regardless of intent, get away without consequence."

"So the only reason we will run into trouble is because someone has privacy issues?" Robin asks with a sigh.

"And sadly, that seems to be almost everyone." Shadow murmurs. "Except Star of course. She has little to hide, that is most likely why her memories are displayed so openly."

"You've only spoken to her a handful of times, yet you claim to understand her mind?" Raven scoffs.

"I simply guess. An educated guess perhaps, but a guess." The pale boy replies calmly.

"So that means we should be able to get through Star's mind pretty quick, huh?" Beast Boy chirps.

"Provided nothing changes." Raven mutters.

"Don't jinx us!" The shapeshifter cries out.

"Never took you to be superstitious Big Brother." Shadow chuckles.

"Hey, why take a chance?" The green boy shrugs.

"As _riveting_ as your conversation is," Robin cuts in dryly, "I should point out we've arrived."

And so they have. Another large door presents itself to them, this one decorated with streamers, stickers and paint. Mostly of the pink variety.

"Dudes, party time?" Beast Boy laughs, twirling a streamer around his finger. "I can guess who we'll be seeing next."

"So that space between your ears isn't empty. Good to know." Raven mutters sarcastically.

"So, am I the one going in again?" Robin asks quietly.

"Don't see why not dude." Beast Boy says with a shrug. He seems to have caught on to Robin's wish to remain undetected until entering, as the green boy had whispered his response.

"You make the most sense, being her best friend." Raven informs, muttering her response at the appropriate volume.

"I thought that was you." Robin says curiously.

"Close second." The empath says, eyes flicking towards the door for a moment. "So get going, we don't have all day."

"I know." Robin sighs. He motions for the group to take a step back as he opens the decorated door. "Here goes nothing."

"Don't worry." Shadow says dryly. "We'll come help if you fail spectacularly."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." The martial artist mutters as he steps through the doorway.

###

"You shouldn't be here."

"Why not?"

"What if something happens to you? Raven will be mad."

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Yes it will, you're _part_ of her!"

"Yeah, but I don't think I'm gonna get hurt by playing Chinese checkers."

"You never know..."

"Besides, I have you here to look out for me!"

"Well..."

"Well what? You already let me stay, why the change of heart?"

"I thought Raven gave you permission."

"Nah. Rae's always been totally strict and boorish. She never let's me do anything at all!"

"That sounds bad."

"It is! Do you know how much candy I've missed out on because Rae says it's 'pointless'?"

"I don't know."

"Lots! Like, seven truck loads!"

"That sounds unhealthy."

"You mean tasty! Caramilks look soooo good!"

"Caramilk?"

"It's from Canada. Kinda like Caramello, but Canadian."

"Umm..."

"It's caramel with a chocolate exterior."

"Oh."

...

...

...

"What were we talking about before this?"

"Chinese checkers."

"Are you sure? I thought there was something else..."

"C'mon Timid, don't you trust me?"

"Well...Yes."

"Then don't worry. It wasn't important."

"If you say so."

"I do."

...

...

"Your move Joy."

"Aww, no fair! Stupid thinking games! How did you get all your pieces over there?"

"Well I-"

"No! Shush! I can figure it out!"

"Umm..."

"I won a smartness contest! So I can discover your strategy!"

"It's nothing special..."

"Shhh! I'm thinking!"

"Whatever you say Joy. Whatever you say."

* * *

 **Chapter 21 complete!**

 **Too many ideas... I have so many ideas that pertain to my GB Titans, a large one for Smash bros, a few for League of legends, several original stories, but none, I repeat,** _ **none**_ **for Mindscapes.**

 **Quite a strange position this puts me in. I didn't plan much of this story, so it leaves me floundering for how to make it interesting.**

 **The moral of this story: Always have a plan! Or just a boatload of patience.**

 **Or give up, but that sucks. I don't want to abandon this like Gotham Tonight. (Even though I still love the idea of that story...)**

 **I also realized several things from reading old stories and my new ideas:**

 **A) My characterization is inconsistent at the best of times**

 **B) I do not understand comedy, and cannot write it**

 **C) I rarely make things vague or add mystery. I prefer telling the readers exactly what is going on, even if it becomes detrimental to the reading experience**

 **D) I make characters flat and boring**

 **E) I have no sense of pace**

 **F) Stereotypes. I use way to many of these.**

 **There are a few more points, but I can't remember them right now.**

 **Basically, I need to practice and write constantly.**

 **Will I be able to manage that? Dunno. Guess we'll see.**


	22. Unfinished

**Damn. I spent too much time playing Bravely Second... and still having no ideas on how to continue this. It's seriously annoying. I feel obliged to try and complete this story, but I have no drive to do so. All my new ideas are for TTGB, or Smash, or League of Legends. I have written snippets for big finales, characterization moments and such. I have a bit of a revised character bible for The Beginning (which I plan on re-writing already) and have an entire mystery for a Smash bros story set up. I also want to make sure my new story actually pass the freaking Bechdel test (Seriously, read my stories. None of them pass, how sad is that?)**

 **But first I need to take a serious look at my writing hobby (or lack thereof in recent times). If I can't keep things consistent and have no drive, I shouldn't try to make myself write.**

 **And so, it is to my great sadness that I proclaim this story over. Or at least up for adoption like Gotham Tonight. If you like the idea of this story, feel free to take it as your own; but I challenge you to make an actual plot. Seriously, this story lacks real conflict and the conflict that does arise just seems random. The entire plot just seems like an excuse plot, and I really didn't plan this out. I challenge you to do better than me.**


End file.
